Ten Things I Wanna Know About You
by Lily x James 4 eva
Summary: James loved Lily. Lily didnt even realize that he knew she existed. This put James in a predicament! In answer to his problem, he is priviledged or pressured into asking ten questions to Lily's two best friends about her. LJ.
1. You get ten questions prongs

"James! Sirius! We're going to be late for class! HURRY UP!" Yelled Remus Lupin, a seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and a who belonged to the marauding group of…well…the Marauders! He looked at his watch and stopped tapping his foot to yell at his friends again.

"JAMES!SIRIUS!GET YOUR SODDING BUMS DOWN HERE BEFORE WE MISS CHARMS!" They already missed breakfast (which Remus was _not_ happy about, since two nights ago was a full moon) and he did _not_ want to miss his _first_ class of the _first_ day of his _last_ year at his _favorite_ school.

He was picking up his bag when a boy stumbled out of the bathroom, with his glasses hanging askew, and his robed in disarray. Yep. That was James Potter for you. The most sought after bachelor in Hogwarts history, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain, and the leader of the Marauders, rolling on the ground like an _idiot_. The Marauders consisted of: himself, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew (Marauder in training, yeah…still…after seven years!). A very satisfied Sirius, naked with only a towel around his waist, came walking into view from the other side of the doorway, with a huge smile on his face. Remus groaned.

"Sirius, you imbecile! We have to be IN class IN five minutes and you STILL aren't dressed!" Sirius shrugged and went in search of his pair of lucky boxers. Remus shut the door with his foot to give Sirius privacy from the swarming girls who had noticed him walking out of the bathroom without any clothing on. Though, James was disappointed to see, no sign of red dancing hair. Yeah, James was in love with the most nerdy (but beautiful in his mind) girl in the school. Her marks on her O.W.L.'S were a 24 out of 30! Extremely better than James' 17/30, and Remus' 20/30, making James come in third.

"Today is the day—" Sirius paused to zip up his fly, "—that I will make an oath to myself to date every seventh year in Gryffindor!" He slipped a loose shirt over his head then pulled a scrunchy, that one of his ex-girlfriends had given him, and pulled his hair into a ponytail, revealing his bright gray eyes that held as much mischief as they did any other day that James had known him.

"Peter already went to breakfast," said Remus, trying to change the subject from girls, "Here are your bags, now lets go!" James fixed his glasses, took his book bag and slung it over his shoulder, following Remus out of the dormitory into the common room, where his breath caught in his throat as he spotted a certain red head laying on her stomach with her feet in the air crossed behind her. Her name was Lily Evans. James all-time crush going on…six years come to think of. Yep, almost six years exactly. The first day James had fallen in love with her was on the train-ride to Hogwarts in the first year. SO, to be technical, Six years ago was the first time he had fallen in love with an angel, and he had never stopped loving her since, even though he had had multiple girlfriends before, and the other fact that Lily never paid a lick of attention to him, except when she was giving him detention along with Sirius for sending off a dung bomb in the great hall of something. She had obviously felt his eyes on her because she looked up and smiled. Smiled at _him_! James Potter, now head boy along with the girl of his dreams! Boy, did he luck out this time! He smiled back, a little more awkwardly, and she resumed to a book she was reading by the fireplace. Then it struck him. Lily Evans, one of the most punctual person's in the history of Hogwarts (though far from her best friend, Aphrodite) was sitting in the Common Room like nothing was happening, and _'supposedly'_ Remus had told them that they only had about five minutes till classes started. He looked at Sirius, who was probably thinking along the same lines as him because he was now glaring at the back of Remus' head.

"You sure that classes start in five minutes, Moony?" asked Sirius who stopped in his tracks and folded his arm across his chest with a look that said "_Bring it, loser_" Remus looked at his bag as if looking for something he had lost. James smiled and decided to play along.

"Yeah Moony old buddy! If classes are about to start, then way is Lily sitting over there?" Lily looked up at the mention of her name.

"What?" she asked politely.

"Got to go, you two! Bye Lily!" Remus dashed out of the room with Sirius trailing behind him, waving his wand threateningly at Remus and scaring a bunch of second years that were coming into the common room from the Great Hall. James shook his head and looked at Lily, who still looked confused.

"Sorry, Evans. I am almost as confused as you." And with that, he ran after his two best friends to go eat breakfast.

"Boys…" Lily thought to herself. Her two best friends ran down the stairs and plopped down on either side of her.

"What's up, Lil?" said her friend, Jen. Her full name was Jenny Mara. She had brunette hair with natural highlights, and it reached her mid-back. She also had hazel eyes and glasses which had made many people in the past confuse her and James of being twins, or siblings. Lily's other friend, Aphrodite, or Aphy, was definitely in resemblance to a goddess. She had the usual, blue eyes, blonde hair, but there was something about her….something that other girls didn't have…a sort of calmness, charm—definitely opposite of Jenny, that made her different from the others, which was the first thing that had made her friends with Lily. She was the sensitive, considerate one. Jenny was the fiery devil that had sparked many relationships in her earlier years at Hogwarts. They were lily's shoulder angels, and she loved them both as if they were her sisters.

"Jen…guess what happened before you two came down?" her eyes were sparkling with mischief. Jen looked thoughtfully confused for a second then she smiled, with her own mischief.

"I don't know Lily," she said eyeing Aphy, who was sitting with her own smile behind Lily's back. She loved it when Lily got all gossipy.

"James Potter smiled at me! THE James Potter!"

"Well, what did you expect? He's probably going to smile at you a lot this year, I mean, you are head girl and he's head boy which means—" She smiled wider then ever. "You two have to move into the head dorm tomorrow!" Aphrodite rolled her eyes. She wasn't the 'gossip type' as some people described her. She was more of a bookworm then Lily for goodness sake!

"Come on, you guys. Let's go get some breakfast." And together, the three of them walked down to the Great Hall, with their arms hooked, and their book bags over their shoulder smiling and talking about what classes they might have that day, Aphrodite more interested then Jenny and Lily of course. They sat at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table, only a few seats away from the Marauders, who had their heads leaned suspiciously low across the table whispering to each other and occasionally glancing in the girls direction.

"James, you'd better tell me now." Said Sirius in a warning tone. "Who do you like! I can't blackmail you unless I know! What _are_ you looking at?" A third year turned back to his breakfast after looking at Sirius suspiciously after he had mentioned blackmail. James groaned.

"It's not like you already know!" He whined, not even noticing Remus, who was looking intently at the group of the three girls.

"I think I know." Remus finally said, setting his napkin down. He looked at Sirius. "Who has James known since he got here?"

"A lot of people!"

"Remus! Don't tell him! HE'LL BLACKMAIL ME!"

"Well! I've got to live up to my name somehow! What else are Blacks known for!"

"Lying and Cheating?" people were now starting to stare.

"Remus _PLEASE!" _

"Sirius, if you can't figure it out, then your thicker then Dumbledore's beard!"

"I quite resent that statement, Mr. Lupin." said Dumbledore on his way to the teachers table and seating himself next to Professor McGonagall.

"Okay," said James giving up, "You win. DO you promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise!" he replied gleefully. James didn't feel too good about this.

"Okay…I like…_Lily_."he whispered

"LILY!" James felt like passing out right then and there. Again, she looked up from her conversation to look at him confused.

"How are you, Lil's?" Sirius quickly mended.

"Fine…" she raised a delicate eyebrow and went back to her conversation. James loved it when she did that, you know, look all like she was better than Sirius, which she _WAS_, by a _long shot_.

"Nice going _buddy_…" said James bitterly.

"Okay…here's the deal. You have to find out ten things about her from her best friends and report back to me, or else I spread it!" James looked at him horrified and shocked, then he glared.

"Fine…" he mumbled. "When do I have to start?"

"Right now!" Sirius said with more enthusiasm then James had ever heard him use before. "AND you have to make her fall in love with you by the end of the year!"

"WHAT! But…but…"

"Butt's are for Donkeys, and Lily's are for you!" he jumped up and left the Great Hall.

"Better go ahead and get over with question number one." Remus said and pushed James up to Lily, almost knocking her over.

"Sorry, sorry—I didn't mean to—can I talk to you Jenny?" he stuttered. Jenny looked confused and sort of sorry towards her best friend, who looked sad that James Potter wanted to talk to her friend and not her. "Can you come too, Aphrodite? I need to ask you guys a question…privately." He winked at Lily and gave her the smile that had melted so many hearts before and she suddenly felt weak in the knees, but she resisted, not wanting to miss her first class AND look stupid in front of everybody by feinting just by the sight of a hot guy.

"Course' Potter! Come on Aphy! Meet you in Runes Lily!" once Lily had left the Great Hall, James had made his attack.

"Okay, I need you to do a favor for me." He said, cutting to the chase. Both girls raised their eyebrow. Unlike Lily, the sight of James in need did not make them weak in the knees.

"Shoot." Said Jen.

"Can I ask you ten things about Lily?" James asked.

"Excuse me?" said Aphrodite with a hint of venom in her voice. She was very protective of guys who wanted to date her two best friends (even though it was hard to keep up with Jenny's; she seemed to have a different one every week!); this seemed like kind of the same situation, even if he _was_ only looking for information…which sounded worse if you think about it. (STALKER!xP)

"Why do you want to know?" asked Jenny putting her hands on her hips, then her eyes widened. "You don't want to become her _stalker_ do you!" She very much emphasized the word in question.

"NO! Oh, _Merlin_ no! no, no, I want to know because…because…" '_Oh my gosh, I can' believe I'm going to say this in front of her two best friends!_' "Because…I think I'm in love with her." He stared at the ground, trying to hide his blush.

"Potter, are you serious?" asked Jenny incredulously. She couldn't believe what she hearing.

"No, Back is." He said smiling, and then got rid of his smirk at the sight of fury in Aphrodite's eyes.

"Okay James. We will make you a deal." Said Aphrodite with her arms now crossed against her chest.

"We will?"

"You will!"

"Yes." Said Aphrodite, matter-of-factly, rolling her eyes. "If you can use the information we inform you of and fill Lily's heart with '_happiness'_, then yes. We will tell you one thing about her every day. Now, If you will be so kind as to move, You two—" she referred to James and Jenny—"have first period charms with Remus, unlike Me, Lily, and Sirius, Who have Ancient Runes, and we are all going to be late in…thirty seconds." She blinked then shot off in the direction and the other two ran as fast as they could up three flights of stairs to their charms room. Right before the three split up to go in different directions, Aphrodite yelled over her shoulder,

"We start tomorrow!"

Hope you liked the first chapter! Please inform me of any suggestions you have or problems you need help in understanding, cause I'll be happy to help! Just leave your name and email and I will try to get in touch with you and update as soon as I can! Oh…gosh, I sound like voicemail! Please Review! Please? With a big bowl of Blue Raspberry Icee? The more reviews, the faster I update!


	2. Moving into the head dorm

1Hope you liked the first chapter! Here's chapter two: Question Number One

James woke up and groggily looked around at his surroundings: He was sprawled out on a couch in the common room, with an afghan twisted around his ankles, no shirt, and his jeans were muddy. Then it dawned on him, just as the early morning sun rays spilled into his eyes from a peek in the curtains.

Last night had been a full moon, which would explain why Sirius was laying upside down in an armchair, with his legs perched on top, and his head lolling over the edge, and Peter, who was snoring face-down into the rug in front of the fireplace. The fireplace, with its ashes from a recent fire blinking brightly at him from behind Peter's head, was portraying the only other source of light, other then the slightly open window curtains. Of course Remus was no where to be seen, and since it was Saturday they didn't have classes, so James took his wand out of his pocket (thankful that it had not snapped in two as he was sleeping) and levitated Sirius off of his recent sleeping position.

He just started to ascend the stairs when shuffling movement caught his ears. Lily came walking down the stairs in a sleepy trance, and shook her head trying to be more awake, when she spotted James. He immediately flushed. She was wasn't wearing her regular School robes, but a white Camisole and a pair of long sleeping pants that went under her ankles and had little snitches on them. She blushed a deep red, probably thinking along the same lines as him, because all he was wearing was a pair of muddy jeans. Before she looked away to hide her blush, she did notice how well-toned his body had become since third year, when she accidentally ran into him as he was coming out of the bathroom _with only a towel_. Thinking about that only made her blush more.

"H-Hi James, w-what are you doing in the common room this early in the morning? Usually I have to send someone to get you so that you won't even be late for classes!" she said smiling, stuttering a little.

"Um, well, fell asleep in the, um, common room, I'm trying to take these buffoons up to their bed." He said simply.

"Let me help you!" she said and rushed back up the girl's staircase to get her wand.

James waited patiently (and because he wasn't stupid enough to let his crush look like a fool in front of him if she came down and he wasn't there) and smiled as she came down, with her wand in hand. James nodded his head towards Peter and Lily muttered to her wand,

"Wingardium Leviosa." And she carried Peter up the stairs, having to stand so close to James because of the narrow walls that their elbows were touching.

When the two boys were _safely _in their beds, Lily and James split up into their separate dorms to get dressed. After James had taken a rushed five-minute shower, he fled to his room and pulled on his best casual clothing. Not that he wanted to impress her or anything—okay, all he _wanted_ was to impress her. He tried to comb his hair, but because

it was so wet and had never been tamed in its existence, it was kind of hard and after two minutes he gave up.

He remembered he had head duty with Lily in a hall on the other side of the castle, and they would be late if they didn't hurry, so he snatched his wand, from where he set it down on his side table before he took his shower, and met Lily in the Common Room, where she was standing and blending beautifully with the newly put on fire that made her hair shine like ember itself.

"Hello, ready to go?" she asked.

"Duty Calls!" and he held out his elbow. She blushed and gracefully accepted his offer by looping her arm through his and resting her arm in the crook of his elbow. They walked out of the Common Room together and made their way down the corridor.

"You hungry?" James asked after minutes of awkward silence.

"How could you tell?" she replied sarcastically, stating the obvious since it was six-thirty in the morning. A wicked smile shone on his face, making her beam with satisfaction. _She had made the famous James Potter smile!_

"Come on," he said and started to walk faster, almost to a run, until he came outside a portrait with a bowl of fruit on it. He reached up his hand (not much because he was really tall) and tickled a pear that was sort of hanging over the edge of the bowl, making it giggle and turn into a green handle. He grabbed the handle and pulled, and felt satisfied at her gasp. Four long tables, replicas of the house tables above them, were stretched out to the other side of the room and sweet smells suddenly filled their nostrils. A little house-elf, wearing a piece of cloth around its loins, scampered up and bowed lowly.

"Does Master James and Miss Head Girl need something to eat?" It asked in a squeaky, almost terrified voice.

"Yes, can we have some Toast, Eggs, and…ooh! Some Tarts please?" said James.

"Right away, sir. May I ask the name of Miss Head Girl?"

"Lily, Lily Evans."

"Most very grateful to meet you, Miss Lily. We house elf's hope to see you in the future, instead of that Mister Black." The elf said, quite bitterly to itself mentioning Sirius's name. Lily smiled to herself; she knew what kind of a drag Sirius could be. He had asked Jenny out _at least_ a hundred times, and after about the seventh time, it got quite annoying. There was a short silence, in which afterwards the elf's kindly led the two to the corner of what would be Gryffindor table and sat them down across from each other. When they got seated and started to eat their quick breakfast, Lily decided to start out their conversation.

"I never got the chance to ask that little elf's name—"

"Snibble." James interrupted. "He used to belong to my parents, but asks a few years ago—I think it was second year—that he would like to work here with Dumbledore and of course, my parents being who they are, said 'whatever Snibble wanted, Snibble could have.' So, instead, we kept his daughter, Snibby."

"Oh. So you only have one house elf?"

"No…actually, my family is extremely rich and we have quite a few, but Snibble was our favorite." He smiled as her cheeks burned with embarrassment. "It's okay. It was a shame to let him go, but we loved him and wanted him to be happy."

"That's sweet…I asked my parents if we could hire a house elf, but my mother _would not_ allow it. She said we had to keep our appearance as the most respected and formal family in the lot of the British Isle. Peh, little did _she_ know that wizard money is worth five times then hers. I wish I didn't have to go live with them every summer. If only my father would divorce her, then everything would be perfect. I could buy my father a house after I moved out, with house elves and everything! Then I would meet someone, we would get married, and send money to my father. He loves magic, but I never get to show him any, because I'm not allowed to, but I wish I could. The only thing he's seen is the barrier in King's Cross and the train when it disappears after leaving the station." She paused and her cheeks reddened as her eyes widened. "I've been rambling haven't I?" James smiled good-naturedly.

"Keep going, I like the sound of your voice." She blushed and smiled at the same time and realization dawned on his face. He slapped his forehead, making his glasses fall a little farther down his nose then normal and he laughed as he said,

"Did I just say that out loud?"

They stayed like that for about fifteen minutes, Lily rambling on about her family and such, and James staring at her longingly, wishing that he could be the husband she mentioned before. After eating their eggs and toast, and James snatching a few tarts, they walked their rounds around the castle nibbling on the tarts and talking like they were old friends. James, of course, poured his heart and soul to her about his love for quidditch, after passing the beautiful green field, and all she could do was laugh and occasionally roll her eyes at his childish behavior. They made their way around the school towards Gryffindor Tower at the end of their rounds and said "Hullo!" (a little bit to perky since they woke up at practically the crack of dawn) to some prefects, before entering through the portrait hole. A few people were up, doing some homework or just chatting, but most were either still sleeping or had gone to the great hall to eat breakfast. James' friends were one of the ones who were in the great hall.

"I'll be right back," said Lily, and James could make out a little sadness in her voice since she probably wanted to continue their conversation, and she made her way to her own friends, Jenny and Aphrodite, and started to talk to them. James couldn't hear her because of the distance (him being by the portrait and them by the stairs to the girl's dorm) but could tell by her expression and their nod and their sudden movement towards him that she had invited them to join happy heads. They smiled at him brightly as they approached.

"Hello, James. Seen Sirius?" asked Jenny, smiling politely and trying not to burst with giggles at the same time.

"Um, No. We were making our rounds and he must have gone to the great hall while we were gone." Replied James shrugging, not even catching a hint in her voice. Then he remembered about their deal. He got to ask one question about Lily today, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, and—

Well you get the idea—

"Okay, thanks James! See you both later! Aphy and I need our breakfast, bye!" And with that, the two other girls ran away towards the great hall, giggling like mad little school girls off their rocker (A/N: hence the 'mad'!)

"Um…okay…?" James said, dumbfounded by the girl's actions, and he turned to Lily with a questioning look on his face. She just shrugged apologetically and motioned for the Portrait hole. James nodded and again they set off together.

When they entered the great hall, they were surprised, but pleased to see their friends sitting together; Jenny and Sirius were talking animatedly about their last quidditch match where Sirius had hit a bludger so hard coming in Jen's direction that it had flown off and knocked down a section of one of the empty stands, and Remus and Aphrodite politely let them go on and on and on and smiled at each other when one would stutter out of excitement or food would fly out of their mouth when they yelled something extraordinary that someone did. Lily sat next to Aphrodite, who was sitting next to Remus, who was sitting across from Sirius, who was sitting next to Jenny, who James had just sat down next to so he could clearly see Lily's face two feet away from his (oh, how he wished it could be closer) and chat with her when he didn't want to listen to Sirius and Jenny's story for the third time (or so, they were informed by Remus) in a row.

They decided to start with what they left off in the kitchens, talking about their families, their belongings, recent pets—Lily excitedly asking about James's dragon that he had mentioned was his pet when he was four—until the other four joined into the conversation. James couldn't remember the last time he had had such a good chat with anybody before in his life. Unlike many others, he found more joy in hanging out and talking with his friends then, oh say, going out in the middle of the night as a stag and helping your friend who just turned into a werewolf not kill anybody along with the help of your two friends—Peter, being one who seemed to be still missing—who turned themselves into a dog and a rat.

They talked until mail; where Sirius had received a back-to-school gift from his little brother, a whistle that when you blew would make a random person around you giggle uncontrollably, and they had fun with that for a while until it was time to either go to their dorm or outside (or detentions in other people's cases), and in Lily and James case, to move _into your new dorm_.

Their friends agreed to help them move all of their belongings into their own rooms ("Lucky!" Jenny had mock-pouted when she found out that they wouldn't be sharing a room…or bed….she had added, receiving a smack upside the head from Lily and a 'shush!' from Aphy) Aphrodite picked up a big box labeled "School Books" then looked at it stupidly. She stayed like that for a few seconds then smacked herself in the forehead, accidentally dropping the box on Jenny's toe.

"APHY!"

"We're Witches! Why am I trying to do this the Muggle way? I'm a WITCH for magic's sake!"

"APHY! THAT HURT! WATCH WHERE YOU DROP THINGS!

"Guys, calm down and let me do the spell—"

"SHE!DROPPED!IT!ON!MY!FREAKIN'!TOE! I DON'T _WANT_ TO CALM DOWN!"

"Sheesh! Wingardium Leviosa." Said Lily impatiently, sighing afterwards at her friend's childish behavior. All six friends (for Peter STILL was missing! Wanna guess why?-) levitated the boxes of belongings down the corridor, turned left, walked down that corridor, turned the corner and ran into a group of fourth year Hufflepuffs, then went down that corridor, and stopped in front of two glorious wooden doors that went closer to the ceiling then the portrait of the fat lady did. That's when they realized…

_They didn't know the password._

"Didn't you ask Dumbledore, James!" asked Lily incredulously.

"No…it never occurred to me to even think of a password…crap." He replied, dumbly shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh! For Heavens Sake!" said Jenny, rolling her eyes, and pushing her way through to the portrait. "Name: Jenny Mara. Rank: Head Girl's best friend. Old Password: none. New Password: James is desperately and most deeply in love with Lily who happens to be desperately in love with him also." The Portrait swung open and everyone gaped at her long speech/password choice. "Didn't you hear Dumbledore talking to last years heads about how to change the password? You just recite your name, rank, old password, and the new password. I made sure Dumbledore put me, Aphy, and Remus ("Hey!") –AND Sirius be able to change the password….But the thing is…you can't change the password for at least a month." She secretly winked to Sirius. James was blushing madly, and the boxes he had been levitating had fallen to the ground with a loud "_THUMP_!", after Jenny had recited the password. Lily shyly, with a huge blush creeping onto her face, asked Jenny to write that down so she wouldn't forget; otherwise, she stayed frozen to the spot, until Aphrodite pushed her into the head dorm common room.

It was brightly lit by the many open windows, since it was a profusely sunny day in September, and was filled with soft cushy couches, a coffee table, an empty fireplace, a long wooden table on the side for homework, and a staircase that led to the two rooms upstairs that would inherit James and Lily's possessions soon enough. Aphrodite walked over to Remus.

"You've got Lily stuff, and I've got James. Switch me." But she did not give him a chance to reply, because she took his wand; giving him hers in the process. She had turned around so quickly that she didn't even notice the blush on his face; both of the mentioned had been very close for a few seconds. They went upstairs and decided that Lily's room would be on the left, and James' on the right; after many arguments about James being a man and the man should have the right hand of everything, and that a woman was merely there to help replenish the earth so she got the left side; the side that was rarely used for things. He made sure that Lily understood what he meant by "_Rarely_".

"So," started Jenny conversationally after entering Lily's room and levitating her boxes to the bed, "what happened with you and Diggerfly three days ago?"

"Oh, him?" said Lily, searching for her third out of seven set of 'Advanced Charms' books in one of the boxes Aphy had set down, "caught him snogging Narcissus Black in the dungeons while I was on duty with James. Oh, and it's 'Diggory'."

"You're kidding!" ignoring Lily's correction.

"No, it _is_ Diggory, though you may try to convince me of your obsession with thinking his name is 'Diggerfly'."

"Not the name, Lils! About snogging Black!

"Oh? Then no, I am not kidding."

"_Narcissus BLACK?_"

"Yes, hard to believe."

"But she's a _Slytherin_!"

"So what?" Aphy cut into the conversation. "It doesn't matter if you're a Slytherin or whatnot! My philosophy is that if you love someone—"

"Yeah, yeah, Aphy: _If you love someone it doesn't matter their background, _'especially'_ if they are muggle born!_" Jenny mocked. Aphy angrily left the room glaring, to go get another box.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about it." Said Lily, warily eyeing the door. "You're insulting Aphrodite."

"Bull." Said Jenny matter-of-factly, then she sighed. "Fine, I'll go apologize." The two came back minutes later and they all decided that it may be alright to continue the subject.

James had exited his room to get another box, when he heard the familiar sound of the female voices gossiping, even though, he thought, it was rare to see or hear Aphrodite gossip. Guess she couldn't help herself, he reasoned. He listened into their conversation:

"Well, beggars can't be chooser's." That was Lily's voice.

"But I thought you were in _love_ with Diggory!" That was Aphrodite. '_Shut up Aphy_!' thought James.

"Well…I was…Merlin, I probably still am." James felt knots squeeze together in his stomach.

"Don't kid yourself, Lils. Diggorfly is a _jerk_ and doesn't deserve to even enter into your presence!" Yes! Kudos points for James! _Thank you Jenny_!

"I guess you're right…" Lily reasoned, he _did_ cheat on her!

"And besides, nobody's even going to have the _nerve_ to go out with you, not now that you're living with James!" Aphrodite reminded the two, though Lily didn't notice the look Aphy sent Jenny. James almost fell to the floor.

"And what exactly is _that_ supposed to mean?" said Lily skeptically.

"Oh, _nothing_." The two said knowingly. That reminded James (for the SECOND time), he got to ask a question about Lily today!

"Whacha doin, Jamsie?" said Sirius popping up out of nowhere. James yelled and fell to the floor with a "THUD!" He thanked the gods that the girls didn't hear him and continued with their conversation.

"So…_Was he a good kisser_?" asked Jenny. James felt like smacking her right then. Whatever happened to being on her side?

"I guess so…he _was_ better then Frank Longbottom, though Frank was _extremely_ nicer and _definitely_ more of a gentleman...and he did come strait out when he said that he loved Alice and not me, which _was _good for him because they make **such **a cute couple! I'm glad that he's my friend though, cause I like being friends instead of a couple...cause with friends you can joke around and stuff...well, anyways, he's probably the most gentleman-like person in this whole school." James made a mental note to go and see Frank Longbottom later.

"Well." Said Aphy, hanging up the last shirt in Lily's closet. "We're done! Want to go swimming? It is, still practically summer!" Swimming was Aphrodite's favorite sport, Lily's too, but Jenny preferred tennis.

"Are we allowed?" asked Jenny raising an eyebrow at her friend's enthusiasm, though she too wanted desperately to go swimming; who wouldn't with a body to die for? Which, all three girls and the Marauders had. The three girls had well shaped curves and the boys each had a six-pack that even adult body-builders would die for.

"YES! Didn't you hear the professors say that only seventh years can go swimming whenever they want this year? Of course, not during classes or mealtimes and after dark…you catch my drift." Said Aphy and winked at the two. Then Jenny smiled mischievously.

"Want to invite the Marauders?" she asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Of course not!" yelled Lily, though there was a sparkle in her eye.

"Lighten up, Lily!" said Jenny, lightly punching her shoulder. Lily smiled shyly and looked at the floor, finally raising her head after a few seconds.

"Do I have to wear a bikini?" the girls squealed and flung their arms around her. All the boys heard this from James' dorm.

"YAY!GIRLS IN BIKINI'S! What could be better, Jamsie? Moony?" asked Sirius excitedly.

"Seriously, Padfoot, is that _all_ you think about?" asked Remus skeptically folding his arms across his chest.

"No…I think about food…sleep…_girl's_ in particular…oh! Did I mention food?" he said smiling. "Come on, Moony old pal! Don't tell me you're not looking forward to seeing Aphrodite in a bikini?" Remus blushed a deep crimson at that remark. "And James? I hear that Lily's matches her eyes." James drooled in his head, but blushed at what Sirius was implying…that he was as low as him and desperately wanted to see girls in bathing suits. "Let's accept! Please?" Sirius asked pouting. James rolled his eyes and Remus sighed rubbing his temple.

"Fine…_if_ they ask." Said Remus lazily, though he _did_ secretly want to see Aphrodite in a bikini. They heard footsteps down the hall and presumed the girls arrival, seeing first Jenny's freckles and glasses peer around the doorway.

"Want to go for a dip, you lot?" she asked raising an questioning eyebrow. Sirius leaned over the frame of the chair that he was sitting backwards in, grinning with wide eyes.

"Skinny, or actually with clothing?"

"Sirius!"

"I was only joking! Why did I even ask? Of course it was skinny!"

"SIRIUS!"

"Fine! Then leave the door open while I get read—" but he could not finish as Remus, with the flick of his wrist with wand, slammed the door in his attempt to shut him up.

"Okay, let's say you were a girl, and you were going to go swimming with a couple of hot guys in bathing suits…why would it take you fifteen minutes to get ready when you were the inviter of the swimming event?" asked James sitting on a rock by the lake throwing bread crumbs at the giant squid.

"I don't know…they probably have to put _makeup_ on or something!" replied Remus, not really knowing what to say and was, sorry to admit, looking forward to the girls in their swim suits.

"_Makeup?_ Why in the _bloody name of going swimming_ would they do that? Its just going to wash off or _smear_ or something!" yelled James throwing his arms wildly in the air. His acquaintances did not find this behavior odd for James, so they just let it pass for one of those 'moments' he had been having since fifth year; since he started liking Lily I mean.

Anyway, the girls chose then to make their appearance. Each with their hair tied up in a pony-tail—_no makeup_—Lily was wearing a forest green bikini, Aphrodite in a baby blue bikini with lots of strings hanging off the edges, and Jenny in a blood-red one-piece with a hole to show her navel.

Of course, the three boys gaped at how beautiful they looked but...twas to be expected.

"Hello boys." said Jenny and she sat on a two-foot-wide rock. Lily and Aphrodite sat on the grass by the edge of the lake and dangled their feet into the cold water; sending ripples coursing through the water and sending the giant squid into a spastic frenzy, making him throw out his tentacles, which he wrapped around the two girls legs, and he threw them into the air, sending _James and Remus _into a spastic frenzy. Jenny and Sirius

giggled and laughed on the side, seeing James swim to where Lily was and Remus, having swam fast enough that he caught Aphrodite, and sent them both deep into the murky blackish water. James and Lily also joined into the laughing when Remus and Aphrodite came up blushing, Aphrodite still being clutched carefully but firmly in Remus' arms. Everybody waded to the edge and heaved themselfs up, all sitting pretty much in a line by the side of the lake.

"Hey, you guys...its getting late, maybe we should get back inside." said Aphrodite after they had swam for a few more hours. The others agreed and the six friends made their way up the tiny hill to the front doors of Hogwarts Castle. While they walked, James tried as well as he could to slowly inch closer to where Aphrodite, Jenny, and Remus were walking.

"Hey Remus...Sirius needed to talk to you about something–"

"What?"

"Just go ask Sirius about...bath towels."

"Why?"

"Cause! Just go!" and he shoved Remus up to where Sirius, _veeeery _luckily, was having a heated conversation about bath towels with Lily. James sighed in relief and didn't even notice the odd stares he was attracting from Jenny and Aphrodite.

"Can I ask you the question now?" he asked in a low whisper. Jenny nodded and had a knowing smile on her face. "Okay...um...what are the terms?"

"Excuse me?"

"Um..I mean...Is there a limit onto what I can ask?"

"Depends." Jenny said rather loudly and almost caught the attention of other people in her suspicious question. James shushed her.

"Okay..um...the rules." he said looking quite frantic by then.

"Well...you can ask stuff like her favorite color or flower or Honeydukes candy...you know, stuff like that." replied Aphrodite.

"_What!_" he whispered harshly; it almost unnerved the two girls. He looked at them apologetically. "Sorry...I meant to say that, can I ask stuff like who her past boyfriends were..."

"Why would you want to ask something like that?"

"Um...blckml..."

"What?"

"_blackmail..._"

"Potter, don't even think about it! She'll know that somebody is up to something if all her past boyfriends show up one morning looking like you had a run in with Snape."

"Dang...fine." by then, the entrance to Gryffindor Tower was down the hallway. James, afraid that if he didn't hurry wouldn't get to ask the question, bent his head lower.

"What is Lily's...favorite flower?" Aphy face started to look dreamy. Jenny decided to answer for her.

"What she tells people are her favorite flowers are 'daffodils' and 'daisys', _but_, her truly, most favorite flowers in the world," here she paused and looked hesitant, "are purple tinted lilies."

"Why doesn't she just tell anybody?"

"Uh, hello? Her name." she pointed out. James made a sort of "_oh_..." sound to show that he understood.

"People would think her vain if she told them her favorite flowers were the same as her name..." said James. Jenny nodded.

"Exactly."

"Hey, you guys!" said a voice from ahead, which turned out to be Lily. "Come on! It'll be dinner time **tomorrow **by the time you make it over here. James, Jenny, and Aphrodite jogged over to the portrait of the Fat Lady where the other three stood, and one of them said the password, making it open wide. They walked over to the two staircases and each said their goodbyes; Remus gave Aphrodite a goodbye hug and whispered something in her ear that made her blush, hugged her tight, then released her to Jenny, where the two girls waved backwards while rushing up their staircases, Remus and Sirius winked to Lily and James before disappearing up _their _staircases, and James and Lily walked out of the portrait hole and to the hallway that led to the head-dorm.

When they finally, after a _long _time of walking, made it to the head dorm, they said their goodbyes to change for the night; but while soft, easy breaths emitted from the sound-asleep Lily, a certain James Potter was up half the night trying to find a flower shop the sold 'Purple-tinted Lilies'.

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the next chapter will be INTERESTING. But I have an idea that I wanna run by you guys before I start typing:

Should I, in the next chapter, make Diggory profess his undying love for Lily? OR should I make a certain curly blond haired, blue-eyed, Gilderoy come into the picture? ORRR should I do Diggory the next chapter and Gilderoy in the fourth chapter? PLEASE HELP!


	3. Gilderoy! Lily and James get closer

1Thank you all for your reviewing! I'm hoping to get at least 15 reviews before I put up the fourth chapter, now is that too much to ask? Come ON, the more reviews I get the more persuaded I am and believe me, I am very busy every day, even in the summer so...just a warning! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

In the future I may personally thank each reviewer, but for now I will just say thanks to all of you (if you are even reading this) so:

THANK YOU EVERYONE!I LOVE YOU ALL! even if I don't know exactly who you are I still luff ya! Please review! And read my other stories! I will, at the end of this chapter, give you a little summary of a new idea for a story I have...you know, its one of those things that sound REALLY good in my head but I'm not so sure that I can pull it off so...I'm a gonna run it a bya youa at the enda ofa thisa chapater!

Woah...**pinch me in your review **if I **EVER **talk like that again...okay...here's the chapter!

See me next time on: **DENI'S RAMBLES**

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Bed curtains pulled slowly aside, the one and only Lily Evans sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. She, so to speak, slumped into the bathroom, took a shower and brushed her teeth, went back into her dormitory and got dressed...

yes, a very eventful morning.

After pulling her Hogwarts robe over her head, and straitening her head badge, she made her way to James door and knocked softly on the wood near the handle. There was no answer. She knocked again, this time a little louder just in case he heard her, but still–no answer. So, she decided to take a little peek and see why her head mate wasn't answering her morning call. She creaked the door open, reminding herself to tell Dumbledore about the old doors needing fixing, and took a look inside. James was asleep, peacefully and quietly snoring, so she decided to give a couple of more minutes of dream land. She walked by herself to the great hall, convincing herself that 'eventually' James would wake up because, _incredulously_, he was never late for classes.

She sat down in her usual seat, smiled warmly at a few first years who entered and sat near her, and began eating her breakfast. As she spread marmalade on her toast, Aphrodite and Jenny appeared across the table and each said their hello's. Lily smiled and said hello also, and just then a flock of forty or so birds flew in from the above opening in the ceilings. Lily immediately recognized her owl but was surprised to see it holding a small package, when all she was used to was an issue of the most recent 'Daily Prophet' or a complaint note from Petunia or mother about "how she wasn't home to be their personal maid, cook, and launder"...blah blah...

Jenny and Aphrodite were just as surprised (for they knew what type of mail Lily usually received) to see the small package as the little owl gracefully fell into Lily's lap. Lily gave Eos, for that was her name, the goddess of the dawn, and she happily flew away, hooting with a few other owls and probably meeting up with the whole lot in the owlery (-did I spell that right...?). Jenny and Aphrodite leaned across the table in anticipation as Lily gently pulled the strings tied around the plain brown package, and the paper unfolded itself; bright lights sparked and flew around her head;

Then all turned still...and the many sparkling lights turned into flower petals that rained down on the one spot where Lily had frozen. She lifted a single petal off her sleeve a felt her eyes sting with wanting to rain themselfs, for she recognized her favorite flower petal, which was pure white with hints of lavender creeping on the edges. _'Who knew...?' _she thought over and over again. She knew it could not be one of her friends because they were innocently surprised, she could tell, and their eyes glittered with good-natured envy.

"That's so romantic..." said Aphrodite dreamily with hints of her french accent hanging on every word and she pulled at a golden ringlet, of the many piled atop her head. But Jenny, who had stopped staring at Lily for a moment, noticed a small white card with purple edges, that materialized from some of the sparkling glittered that had fallen on the surface of the glossy wooden table. She picked it up curiously, noticing in the back of her mind that the great hall had shushed themselfs to watch the spectacular display of Lily's mysterious gift, and decided to read out loud:

" _Dear Lily, _("It begins," Shh!)

_How are you? Not really how I wanted to start this note but it will have to do. Did you like your present? _("Present? It's not my birthday...") _yes I can probably tell what you are thinking, yes I know its not your birthday, and please don't ask how I know when your birthday is, not that I could tell you anyways because this is anonymous, and please don't think I am a stalker, well, I'm to tall to be a stalker and I hope I did not just give something away._

_I Love you Lily, and I always will _(here, Aphrodite couldn't help but take a sharp intake of breath, something Lily was sure to notice) _please don't be surprised to receive another gift from me tomorrow, for there will be one expected to be here._

_Keep me in your heart,_

_**Your Secret Admirer**"_

Jenny gently handed Lily the note, which Lily read over once more. Then, something unexpected happened; Sirius held his hands up high and started to clap loudly; Remus and Peter followed after a few seconds, as did a few people from the Hufflepuff table, then the rest of the Gryffidors and the Hufflepuffs, and the Ravenclaws joined in and even a few Slytherins. Dumbledore, sitting at the head table clapping loudly like Sirius, had a twinkle in his eye that Lily noticed the moment everybody started to clap.

Lily wiped a stray tear from her eye and looked around the great hall at all the people clapping; none of them had a look in their face, their expression, except maybe the marauders but they always had that look, a look of knowing, and while Lily searched the great hall for signs anybody might be giving her, she also noticed James standing with his back against the great oak doors of the great hall with a soft smile and a sort of knowing face, unlike his fellow marauders who were smiling from ear to ear. Lily smiled back at him and he walked nonchalantly over to her, sat down, and started to eat his breakfast.

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((James' POV)) ((felt like doing a personal POV, so sorry if you don't want to read the same thing in James' perspective))

I was about to wake up when I heard the soft footsteps and knew only who they could belong to. And I was right. She knocked softly, and I didn't say a word; I'm not sure why I didn't say anything...I guess it was a sort of reaction, when one is used to being dragged out of bed and usually ends up faking sleep. So, she knocked a little harder, and still I did nothing to confirm that I was even awake, so she opened the door. I continued to snore gently, pretending I was asleep, and could hear her retreating, and all I could think of was that she was letting me sleep in. I'm so lucky to have fallen in love with such a caring and understanding person.

_Merlin, she's gullible._

Anyways, after a few minutes of silent bickering with myself, I decided I wanted to see her expression when she opened my present. I silently, just in case she still might be in the head common room, slipped into a new pair of cloths and pulled my robes over them. I tiptoed, as much a tall person can tiptoe without hitting his head on the top of the doorframe, out the head dorm, and walked swiftly down the almost vacant corridor, hoping to just maybe get a glimpse of her reaction to my letter and gift.

When I reached the humongous oak doors the led into the great hall, I noticed silence, with one voice speaking. It must have been Jenny or Aphrodite, because I could just make out parts of my letter in their muffled speech (muffled because of the oak doors!MUAHAH!) Then there was silence again, complete silence for about ten seconds, then clapping, loud, obnoxious clapping, and the first thing that came to my mind was "**Sirius**" I shook my head with a smile on my face and finally decided, when the clapping was at its highest point in sound level, to sneek into the great hall, no one noticing me at first as I rested my back against the oak doors with a smile on my face, except a certain girl of the moment; _none other than Lily_. I walked slowly over to her, still smiling (but who wasn't? Besides the Slytherins of course) And I sat down to begin my breakfast.

((back to third person!))

Girls swarmed around Lily, each wanting to see the note to see if they recognized the handwriting, even Professor McGonagall wanted to put a spell on it to try and find out the sender of the note, but Lily refused, she wanted to find out her "Secret Admirer" for herself.

_And_, it was quite unnerving to see the glint in McGonagalls face when she wanted to see who wasn't proclaiming their love for Lily in the way she most fancied; _right to their face_.

No wonder she wasn't married.

So, almost everyone left the great hall in good spirits, all except the ones complaining to their boyfriends that they didn't do anything spectacular for them; Lily even witnessed one boy crying out in frustration and agreeing to put on the most spectacular fireworks display ever known to man, just for his girlfriend. Lily gave him a warning.

Lily aced her transfigure pop test, making her even more happy, made a successful sleeping drought in potions class, was the first to master the charm professor Flitwick had been teaching them for a week, and all in all, her wonderful attitude towards her studies earned Gryffindor a grand total of forty-five points. She got many "Good Job!"'s "Could you maybe help me study sometime if your not busy?"'s and even a few "Thank You! I accidentally lost Gryffindor twenty points for being caught snogging last night, I mean...wasn't supposed to tell you that...dragons dung!"'s yes, bizarre...but she didn't let any of those distract her good work and by lunch, almost everyone was wanting to be her friend.

The weird thing, which was most confusing to Lily especially, was that her two best and the Marauders were sticking to her as if the were the prickly part of velcro. (Wow...odd simile:P) They sat next to her in every class, the Marauders abandoning their usual spot in the back of all their classes and decided to sit with her and her friends in the front. _Weird_...she thought.

At dinner that day, she sat down in her usual seat with her friends, and the marauders came to join her.

"I shall act pleasantly surprised when they sit down." she mumbled to herself as she noticed them drawing nearer with goofy grins on their faces. Aphy raised her eyebrow for a split second before smiling warmly at Remus who sat down nest to her.

"So, how's your day been, Lil?" asked Sirius, trying to start a conversation and hide his happy smile. She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I guess. I aced McGonagall's test, made a successful potion, and was able to perform the Flora Charm." She watched their mouths hang open and picked up a biscuit, nibbling on it. "You?"they all looked at each other with wide grins on their faces and Lily sighed.

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing!" they yelled in unison.

"Liars."

"Okay," said James giving up, but still smiling, "You'll see in a sec." a few moments later, the great hall doors opened to reveal Severus Snape with dark green skin and glittery sparkling silver robes. He was glaring at the whole lot of the Gryffindor table, but mostly at the marauders. He sat down at his table and started to fouriously shove the food into his mouth, occasionally scratching his arm or neck.

"Oh my gosh..." said Jenny. "You made a potion that would turn his skin green, and put it into his pumpkin juice at breakfast, adding merlin-knows amounts of itching powder and charmed it so that it wouldn't take effect until right after our last period; you also charmed him to be extremely hungry for the next 24 hours and charmed his robes glittering silver." she said matter-of-factly crossing her arms.

"Is it that obvious?" said Remus smiling. Lily rolled her eyes at his statement, when she felt a tap on her right shoulder. She spun around curiously then smiled politely at the person standing next to her. "Hello? May I help you?"

Standing before her was a Seventh year Hufflepuff with curly blonde locks, a dazzling white smile, and an over conceited ego to match. His name was Gilderoy Lockhart, and he believed himself to be one with the ladies. He smiled his dazzling smile at her.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could have a private word with you." he said, eyeing the group of friends sitting around her.

"Umm..." she said biting her lip, "not to be rude, Gilderoy, but I didnt have much to eat for breakfast and I am ravenously starving, so, if you wouldnt mind, saying it just right here?" she said hopefully, even though she was still just nibbling on a croissant. She knew of his reputation and didnt want to be anywhere alone with him. That was for sure!

"Well if you say so; Lily Evans" he began, and James' eyes were beginning to squint in curious protectiveness, "I would like to ask you to be my girlfriend." Jenny and Sirius both spit out their pumpkin juice at the same time, covering everyone in the sticky liquid; Gilderoy disgustedly wiped some off his cheek.

"Um...Gilderoy...well, I don't know." said Lily, who now had her worst fear involving him come true. She didn't like him that way; to tell the truth, she didn't like him any way, except in his own common room.

"Why would you want to her to be your girlfriend?" James accused, pretty much glaring at Gilderoy, "You didnt pay a lick of attention to her before."

"Didnt pay a lick of attention? I'll have you know that I've been staring at her secretly in every class we share! Well...why wouldnt I ask her out, after the display I put on this morning? Like it said, I've been in love with you for as long as I can remember."

"It didnt say that."

"Well how would you know? You werent even in the great hall this morning." said Gilderoy defiantly, trying to redeem his case. James face turned red.

"So you've been stalking Lily?"

"Maybe!"

"What!" said Lily, butting into the conversation, which was a brave thing to do because both boys were close to boiling over by now. "And it did not say anything about loving me for as long as he could remember. It clearly stated that 'He loves me and he always will.' _I only wish he would show himself_." she said more to herself.

She sighed, stood up and walked out of the great hall leaving the forgotten croissant on her otherwise empty plate. Aphrodite and Jenny glared at Gilderoy before they followed Lily out the great oak doors, as did Sirius who followed the girls. James, Remus, Peter, and the rest of Gryffindor table was glaring at him but still sitting in their seats. Gilderoy shamefully walked out of the great hall with his head bowed. The rest of the tables really didnt notice the little 'oral battle' except a select few who had nothing else to do but eat, watch, and be amused.

James didnt feel good about Lily being out in the halls, with Gilderoy now out there too, so he too swung his legs over the bench he was sitting on and took long stride towards the great oak doors.

He followed the click of footsteps and stopped behind a statue of a damsel in distress, right beside where Gilderoy was talking to another Hufflepuff boy, to listen.

"Yeah, I only proposed to go out with her because I thought it would make me look good. She's butt ugly if you ask me, but the display this morning? Boy, every sexy girl would be crawling all over me for that. I'll have to ask the maker how he did it."

"It was really simple–" said James appearing in front of him and punched him square in the jaw.

"–all I had to do was fall in love and anything could happen." he heard running footsteps coming up from behind him (after the other boy ran away not wanting to get punched and knocked out like Gilderoy) and Sirius, Lily, Jenny, and Aphrodite came running up with curious and shocked looks on their faces at the sight of James and a crumpled body at his feet.

"James–!" Lily managed after about ten seconds of staring at the limp figure on the ground.

"Lil," he cut her off, "you have to listen to this." he pulled out his wand, muttered a spell, and a recording box thingy appeared out of thin air. He pushed a button on it and Gilderoy's voice sounded through the empty hall:

"_Yeah, I only proposed to go out with her because I thought it would make me look good. She's butt ugly if you ask me, but the display this morning? Boy, every sexy girl would be crawling all over me for that. I'll have to ask the maker how he did it."_ James stopped it before it could go any further, meaning that it would reveal himself.

Tears were forming in Lily's beautiful green eyes and James felt a stab of pain in his heart. He hated it when she cried. Aphrodite comforted her in a motherly way while Jenny hugged her.

"You okay, Lil?" asked Sirius, who hadn't said anything since he arrived. Lily immediately pulled away from jenny and furiously wiped at her eyes and drenched cheeks.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, I think I just need to be alone.

She separated from the group, exiting through the gigantic oak front doors, into the cool summer night air. She made her way over to the same rock that her friends and the marauders had practiced diving from the day before and she sat down on it, lifting her knees up to her chest and resting her head on her knees; she let a single tear drop from her soon to be leaking eyes, when somebody laid a hand on her shoulder. She tensed, then relaxed at who it was.

"Hello, James. I thought I said I wanted to be alone." She said though she didn't mean it. He could tell.

"Too bad. Friends don't let friends cry without a shoulder to cry on, and if that made any sense then I guess you can cry on my shoulder." he said. She made a sort of small laugh/hiccup and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Cheering me up. And being a great friend. Thank you."

"Your welcome." The sunset cast a nice shadow on his face, which was inches from her's, she leaned in; so did he. She could feel his hot, slow breath on her nose and she closed her eyes. They were centimeters away when–

"Ja–!" then a muffled cry. James sighed as Lily pulled away, eye's open and blushing.

"That'll be Sirius and Remus behind that bush over there. I'll be going then." he said rather awkwardly, and hurriedly kissed her cheek, running over to a pile of bushes and Lily could barely make out "Good going Prongs!" and "I'm going to cut you up, eat you, hurl you, and then burn you." She smiled and decided to walk back to the Castle, amidst the lovely summer roses and violets. What she didnt hear was a female voice saying:

"Her favorite gem stone is amethyst. _Don't spend too much_."

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**There. What do you think? Since I didnt get any reviews mumblemumble about what I should write in this chapter, I decided to throw in the Gilderoy thing to spice things up and so I could add a little Lily-James time, even though it didnt work out. I love manipulating you guys.**

**Luv you all!**

**-Denierure, one of the biggest Lily/James fans you will ever meet in a lifetime, you know you love me. **


	4. Hogsmead, an amethyst necklace, Diggory

1Chapter four:

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"Look! This weekends a Hogsmead weekend! How did I manage to overlook that!" yelled Jenny tearing the notice off the board. One magically replaced itself. It was Friday and tomorrow was the day of the visit.

"You've just been busy with school work and that's nothing to be ashamed of!" said Aphrodite indignantly.

"Yeah, yeah...who should I ask this time?" she stated brightly.

"I think you should wait for someone to ask _you_." said Lily. They walked over to their favorite place by the common room fire and curled up in the three plushiest armchairs.

"Wait for someone to ask me!" yelled Jenny appalled.

"Yes!" replied Aphrodite. Jenny looked to be considering it for a second.

"Maybe. How about you Lily?"

"What about me?" she replied suddenly looking scared.

"You going to ask anybody?" Lily laughed.

"Who would I ask?" she said back exasperated.

"James."

"James!"

"Yes. J-A-M-E-S. James." Lily looked hesitant.

"Only if he asks me."

"No prob." she leaned her head over the edge of her chair directing her voice towards the windowsill where the marauders where chatting. "Oi! Potter!" he turned at his name, "ask Lily to Hogsmead, alright?" He and Lily blushed crimson at the same time.

"Alright. Will you join me in Hogsmead, Lily?"

"Alright." she copied, smiling shyly. He turned back to talk with his friends, a sudden smile lighting his features.

"See? That wasn't so hard was it?"

"No. Not at all." replied Lily sarcastically.

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"Don't you think the ringlets are a little much?" said Lily eyeing her reflection doubtfully on the morning of the Hogsmead visit.

"Absolutely not." replied Jenny matter-of-factly. "I think Aphy did a smashing job on your hair, and me with your make-up if I do say so myself. _And I do_." she smiled. Lily was wearing a purple, short-sleeved dress that went down to her knees, and she fingered the beautiful amethyst raindrop with the silver chain that adorned her other-wise exposed neck fondly; She had received it the previous morning with another love note and decided now was a better time then any to wear it, as it matched her favorite dress. Aphy had set to work early that morning, spending an hour on Lily's hair, first curling it into ringlets and then pulling the ringlets up in a sort of ponytail.

"You look lovely." said Aphy from her bed. She didn't make much of her appearance, only wore a simple baby blue silk button up, a pair of dark jeans, and diamond studs. She pulled half of her ringlets up into a ponytail so that half was up and half was down. Jenny finished applying mascara to her eyelashes and stood up to her full height inspecting herself in the stand-up mirror. She decided on a blood-red off the shoulder sweater that looked lovely on her tanned complexion, also a pair of dark jeans, and black strapped high heels. She straitened her hair and made some parts fall onto her chest and the rest on her back.

"You two ready yet?" asked Aphrodite in a bored voice.

"Yes." said Lily twirling and watching the frilling end of her dress twirl with her.

"Not quite." replied Jenny who started to apply more lip gloss onto her already reddened lips. The other two girls groaned good-heartedly then Jenny finished and slipped on her thin-framed lenses. They exited the dormitory with their galleons jingling in their purses and entered the common room.

It would be too cliche to say that many people gasped at their entrance, but hey, this story's here for fluff so, CONTINUING!

"Hello James." said Lily sweetly and James just continued to goggle at her appearance. She laughed in her head and took his hand. He smiled, breaking out of his reverie and squeezed her hand softly.

"M'lady?" said Sirius offering Jenny his arm. She looked at him skeptically.

"What are you playing at, Black?" she asked smoothly. He just smiled that charming smile of his.

"Well, _if you haven't noticed_, those other seventh years over there are eyeing you quite hungrily and pervertedly." he replied matter-of-factly and not bothering with her last comment. She suddenly looked guilty as she took his arm and a plan formed in her head. She stood on her toes and gave him an unexpected kiss on the cheek whispering "thank you Sirius..." then quite loudly and obviously, "thank you Sirius for asking me to be your GIRLFRIEND" with a false smile. He just shook his head at her, laughing, but decided to play along cause it looked fun.

"Your welcome, Jenny, and don't forget that promise I made you!" he said at the same volume.

"And what's that dear?"

"That I'll hex anyone who even dares to look at you!" he replied smirking and the perverted seventh year boys quickly looked away as though nothing had happened and engaged themselfs in conversation. Sirius and Jenny burst out laughing, receiving odd looks form the rest of their common room mates, and their friends just shook their heads laughing.

"Oh Merlin, Padfoot–you two sound like a married couple." said James, wiping at his eyes with his free hand pretending that he was crying with laughter when he really wasn't. That made Lily laugh harder, almost to the point of snorting.

Then, suddenly, Remus pulled Aphrodite aside. She looked at him mildly surprised.

"Hey, I know this is short notice, but I've been trying to work up the courage to ask you and now I finally have." her eyes widened. "I'm not proposing!" she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding with relief. "But I would like to ask you properly if you would like to accompany me to Hogsmead." she smiled and nodded her head.

"Of course." a grin adorned his features and he immediately picked her up and twirled her in the air.

"Its almost feels like you've proposed." she said truthfully. He grabbed her hand, but not roughly, and they ran to catch up with the others.

"I'm glad I chose not to wear stiletto's today!" yelled Aphrodite. Remus turned his head, still running, and gave her a questioning look.

"What's a stiletto?" he yelled back and realized, unfortunately, that a stitch was forming in his side.

"It's–nevermind!" she laughed out and also noticed a pain in her side. They made a mad dash to the giant oak doors at the front entrance of the school and just barely made it into the carriages.

It was a beautiful bright day, with fluffy white clouds that looked like stretched out marshmallows, and the sun poured down warmly, comfortably, and encouragingly as the six friends entered the only all-wizard city in England and made their way into Honeydukes. They explored through all the sugary sweets occasionally 'ooh'-ing and grabbing something off the shelf, adding it to their ever-filling basket when-

"Ooh! I _love_ those!" Lily pointed to a bar of chocolate on the top shelf that read: **Alfred's Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bars**. She stood on her tip-toes but couldn't reach them, so she started to jump up over and over again. She stopped and huffed, putting her hands on her hips and squinting accusingly at the bars of chocolate that seemed to be mocking her along with the "**Mock Balls**" on the shelf behind her that were having a field day, rolling around laughing with their little mouths (and no eyes or nose) at her feeble attempt to reach the beloved chocolate. Before she could jump one more time, a hand reached over her shoulder and easily picked up one of the bars and handed it to her with his eyes twinkling. She glared at him.

"I could have easily reached that James."

"Sorry. It just looked like we'd be here all day if you kept that up." he replied to her rude comment almost good-naturedly.

"Hey! Its not my fault I'm short!"

"Actually it is. And for lying, I get to pay for it." he said snatching it clean out of her hands and walking nonchalantly to the register, setting it down on the counter along with everything else he was buying. The man at the counter nodded to him and handed him the bag of sweets. James turned around to a still-glaring Lily though now she was smiling.

"I hate you."

"Then why did you agree to go out with me?"

"I never said I'd go out with you!" she pointed out.

"True, true-" he replied distractedly. "But if you hated me you wouldn't have agreed to join me here in this lovely place known as Hogsmead, would you?" he said rasing an eyebrow. She started to rase her pointer finger to object then gave up, smiling and snatching back her chocolate, opening it and taking a sweet bite out of it. They left the other four and exited the shop, heading in the direction of The Three Broomsticks. Lily held out her chocolate,

"Want a bite?"

"Sure." he said breaking off a piece and stuck half of it in her mouth. Before she could say anything, though she raised both eyebrows in a sort of shock confusion, he leaned down and put his lips around the part that wasn't in her mouth, lightly brushing her own lips as he did so, breaking off the piece with his teeth.

She slowly swallowed her melting piece of chocolate.

"What was that for?" she asked quietly. He just shrugged and held the door of The Three Broomsticks open for her to enter. She did and quickly stole an empty table as the pub filled with more people. James joined her, taking a seat across from her and neither of them noticed a boy scowling at them from the doorway.

"I'll go order our drinks." said James and left the table in the direction of the bar. Someone, who wasn't James, immediately sat down in the vacant seat that belonged to James. Lily goggled at him for a second, then glared.

"Diggory."

"Lily!" Amos muttered desperately, "I need you back! I love you! Why did you leave me! I thought you loved me back!"

"Well, _Diggory_" she replied with much restrain to what she really wanted to say. "It may have to do with the fact that I stumbled across yours and Blacks half naked bodies in a broom closet on the forth floor while I was patrolling, one dark and stormy night."

"I don't recall it raining that night..." he said thoughtfully.

"Its to emphasize how I felt after the incident." she replied coldly, holding out every syllable in 'incident'.

He shook his head distractedly, "Nevermind that," he grabbed her hand that was lying on the table, squeezing it a tad bit tighter for her liking. "I thought we were over after that, especially after just witnessing you and Potter outside but, please, just think about taking me back." she looked at him coldly.

"Why do you want me back _now?_" icicles hanging off of ever word she said, he gave her another desperate look.

"Well–I thought I might still have a chance, if you dumped Potter that is–"

"James."

"Whatever–but now that I see you two it makes my heart hurt and scream in agony and-and-"

"Black dumped you for Malfoy." she said smirking, and also wondering what was taking James so long with their drinks.

"Well...that too." he admitted, studying his and her hand shamefully then grinned. "Come on, lets go somewhere–" He started to pull her out of her seat. She wrenched her hand free, looking at him as if he just spouted another head.

"I will do no such thing!"

"Come on Lils–" She pushed her chair back so hard it fell over and the people around them were looking around in surprise.

"**Do NOT call me LILS!**" she whipped out her wand and waved it furiously at him sending him flying out the now open door. Some of her hair was falling out of its elegant ponytail by now and she was breathing very fast. She sprinted out the door and just faintly heard a _"Lily! Wait!" _but she just kept running down the street, receiving many odd looks from passerby's.

Suddenly a hand wrapped around her upper arm.

"LET GO OF ME PERVERT!" She whipped around and suddenly looked sorry seeing James concerned and confused expression.

"I-I'm s-sorry James–"she started, about to cry, when he wrapped his arms around her now shaking body.

"Lets go talk somewhere private, Lily." he whispered soothingly. He kept his arm around her shoulder and led the way into the forest that separated Hogsmead from the lake with the giant squid. He noticed a large rock ahead and led her to it, sitting her down gently and seating himself next to her.

"What happened?" he asked softly. She sniffed, though she had stopped crying the second he wrapped her up in a warm hug. She explained how Amos had taken his seat, told her many different ways that he still wanted her, then how he wanted her to go somewhere with him, and all the while James just listened, his expression turning more steely as she progressed with the story.

"James," Lily said, after the silence that had come, while both of them sat thinking after her narrative. He looked up at her, his brows still furrowed in thought, but gave her his full attention.

"I want you to prank him." his brows furrowed more. "Do something horrible-" she was glaring at nothing and her voice didn't sound like hers. She groaned loudly and put her head in her hands.

"Its weird." she muttered, "Its like-like I want to torture him, make him pay-pay so much-that I kill him." she suddenly sounded scared. "Why am I thinking this?" she whispered fearfully. James face looked nothing BUT concerned now, _though _there was a little curiosity in his gaze. She kept muttering things like "Why? Why am I thinking these horrible thoughts?" and he suddenly hugged her again and she calmed.

After he released her from his grasp he gently kissed her forehead. She laid her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her again, this time just the two of them sitting there in their comfortable position and just enjoying each others quiet company.

"THERE you are!" said a voice behind them. They quickly pulled apart to see their four friends smirking at them and Sirius looked ready to burst. At seeing their faces though Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to you guys?" he asked. Lily looked teary-eyed again and then burst into tears. Sirius looked horrified.

"What did I say!" he yelled as James pulled Lily into another comforting hug to calm her down.

Suddenly a booming voice sounded in his head but was unheard by everybody else:

"**We'll talk about this later _Padfoot_**"

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Okay, to answer a few questioning parts:

**AT **the beginning of this chapter it says that Lily puts on the necklace with the amethyst raindrop; on the last chapter it shows that James asks what her favorite gem stone is and they answer him with AMETHYST, so I am implying that that morning or the day before or whatever that thats the present James gave her for that day.

**ALSO**, I think I put in the second chapter that Lily's previous boyfriend was Amos Diggory; there you go.

**SOMETHING** else I think might have confused you was that the Honeydukes was not one of the questions; I thought about it and decided it would just be something nice that James does for Lily, even if he is sort of mocking her height in the process.

**I hope that answered any of you reviewers questions, cause otherwise, I cant think of anything else to confuse you.. I hope in the future I can make it more clearer and readable.**

**Keep Reviewing–**

**Denierure**


	5. The Rose Necklace

1Thanks for all the reviews for my last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one as much.

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After the incident in Hogsmead James started spending more and more time with Lily. The morning after, he had explained to Sirius and Remus what had happened as they were getting dressed and asked them not to tell anyone. He did not need proof to believe that Lily's secret would be kept safe.

More and more times that year, when Lily would get mad about something, she kept getting that strange feeling that gave her the impulse to kill someone. It scared her and the only people she had confided with was James, Aphrodite, and Jenny. They each had something different to say.

"You MUST go to Dumbledore about this, Lily. It isn't normal to have an _impulse to kill_." insisted Aphrodite.

"You'll get over it," Jenny told her airily when she confided in her her thoughts, "It will just take time." Lily desperately wanted to ask how much time.

"It's okay, Lils. I'm sure its just a joke someone is playing on you, probably Sirius. But I'll protect you if it is bad anyways." said James, lightly kissing her forehead, as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the lips, more deeply and assuring.

Her next gift came in the mail, three days after the Hogsmeade incident. This was the second gift to come with a card:

_Dear Lily,_

_I'm so sorry for the wait but I have been busy up to my chest with unimportant things. If I could have redone the past few days I would have, just so I wouldn't miss sending you a gift—_

"That's odd," she mumbled to herself, unaware of a pair of eyes reading her expression, "I already got the necklace..."

—_sending you a gift; can you forgive me? I'm wrapped up in so many other things (as you know, the teachers are definitely piling it on this year) and because of all these events, I am sometimes in ignorance of you. Again forgive me, and I am afraid that if I keep saying that you will think me a sniveling whiney-needy git. Please don't._

_Your next give shall arrive shortly and I hope you will like it, seeing as I went to extreme measures to get it._

_Goodbye and keep me in your heart,_

_Your secret admirer_

"Sweet," remarked Lily as she folded up the letter and slipped it into an empty pocket in her robe. This time the gift sent by a majestic-looking eagle who, unlike its description, was not very majestic acting. It landed not-so-gracefully in a milk jug after dropping a mediocre weight object in Lily's lap. After ridding its feathers of the blasted milk it flew off to go to the owlrey, leaving Lily to open her present with much anticipation.

She was about to rip off the covering when I thought struck her; last time she opened her present in front of everyone she became instantly popular. Not that she didn't want to be liked but she would rather open her gift in the safety and silence of her dormitory.

Since it was relatively small, she slipped it in her pocket and just smiled at all who had been watching. She picked up her bag and left her uneaten porridge on the table full of disappointed groans and a few half-hearted smirks. Lily rolled her eyes as she left the great hall for her first period class. James caught up with her in the hallway.

"So, did you open your present?"

"No, why do you ask?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. He just threw up his hands defensively.

"I'm just curious!"

"Sure..." was her reply as she coyly slid her fingers through his. He smiled and together they made their way to their first class together.

As Professor McGonagall wrote on the board with her wand, Lily took the small package from her pocket and silently un-wrapped it. Now laying in her lap was probably the most beautiful present anyone had ever given her.

A silver carved rose with ruby's imbedded on the petals shimmered in the morning sunlight. Lily's eyes sparkled as she lifted it a little higher, satisfying herself as the light caught it and she smiled. Then suddenly out of nowhere—

"McGonagall! Lily's got another present!" the scrape of chairs on the stone floor sounded as about twenty girls rushed to Lily's side, marveling at the glorious gift sitting in her palms. Lily's cheek turned a flaming red as Professor McGonagall folded her arms and gave her a disapproving look. All Lily could do was shrug guiltily and blush into her lap.

"Ms. Evans–"

"I'll put it right away professor!" Lily shooed everyone away and shoved the flower into an empty pocket. During the whole affair, she couldn't help but smile. A certain someone noticed this and grinned behind her back. Deep inside, he was ecstatic!

At the end of class, the girls crowded around Lily again to see the beautiful rose without the disapproval of a teacher. Lily smiled and held the chain (for it was a necklace) up and the light reflected off its shimmery, silvery surface. Many girls glared in jealousy, but mostly they had huge smiles adorning their facial features.

"Do you know the giver yet?" asked a ravenclaw girl Dianne Michaels. Lily shook her head.

"I bet he's from Hufflepuff!" said another girl Derin Muller with zeal.

"I know who he is." said a voice from behind the chattier group and they all turned around expectantly. What they saw did not surprise them. It was the Marauders; James had spoken. Lily's two best friends just stared with wide eyes and open mouths. _Was he actually going to tell her in front of all these people?_

"You know who it is James!" asked Lily incredulously, wondering why he had not confessed this knowledge to her before.

"But Prongs isn't going to say a word, is he?" said Sirius with a smirk. James just shook his head to confirm.

"Ja-ames! Come on, please? TELL ME!"

"If I tell you, you may leave me for him," said James looping his arm through hers and steering himself and her away from the group as the girls were starting to force the information out of the remaining, soon-to-be bedraggled marauders.

"Maybe..." she replied coyly, look at him through the corner of her eyes.

"Then you can see my reasoning."

"PLEASE!"

"Another day, another time..." he said, brushing his fingers through his messy hair.

"Oh stop trying to act all wise Prongs," said Sirius who had shown up at their side. Lily gasped at his outfit; apparently his fan club had shown up and stolen his cloak and one of his sleeves. James just laughed and slapped his friend on the back.

"Better go get dressed before McGonagall see's you mate." Sirius shrugged and jogged in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"Hmm..." said Lily leaning her head on James' shoulder as they walked hand in hand, "A whole free period; what shall we do?"

"We could snog in an empty closet if you'd like."

"James!"

"I'm only joking!" he said.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, Lily was getting ready for bed. She unhooked the chain of the amethyst neckless and felt a huge jolt in her stomach when she tried to remove it from her pale neck.

"Woah..." she whispered. When she pulled at it again though, it came off cleanly and she locked it up in her jewelry box. Tomorrow she was going to wear the rose necklace. She couldn't wait for the next present!

She had long gotten over the shock of a secret admirer, even if she was dating James; and she could get used to all these mysterious gifts!

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I see she's wearing your necklace, Prongs," stated Sirius at breakfast the next morning. Sure enough, the sheen around her neck as sunlight hit silver was unmistakable.

"Technically, Padfoot, it's _her_ necklace." replied James, taking a bite off his tart. He smiled at his girlfriend when she sat next to him and quickly pecked her lips.

"Prongs, save it for your nighttime strolls, not in public. Besides, it _is_ kinda of vexing how your fan club is glaring at ME when I have done absolutely nothing to irritate their pretty little fake heads." Lily laughed airily at Sirius' remark, making James smile in delight at her musical voice that seemed more beautiful then a string of flutes playing.

"_That prat Evans get's everything!" _said a high pitched girls voice from behind the group. Remus snorted into his cereal, but rapidly recovered, clearing his throat business-like and taking a small sip of juice.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Master...the spell...I don't believe I cast it correctly–"

"Of course you didn't, you never do anything right." said a cold voice that chilled the boy to the bone in fright at failing his master. Well, technically, he wasn't doing this for his master, or I should say, he didn't do this for his master. The necklace was all his idea, he just needed the spell that would make the girl kill Potter. Maybe after that...maybe...she would have to go into exile and he could comfort her and...maybe...make her fall in love with him. Yes, that was the plan...well...a short version of the plan at least.

"Stop your musing and retrieve me the necklace...I'll fix it for you." said the cruel high pitched voice reluctantly. There were tears in the boys eyes. He couldn't wait to get rid of Potter, then maybe even Black. He would also probably have to get rid of Lupin, though he didn't believe him to be much of a threat (HA! Little does he know the Remus ROX MY SOX and could beat him in ANYTHING!)

"Yes...master." the boy bowed and stepped back through the translucent wall, appearing on the other side in the Gryffindor seventh year boys dorm. Around him were the familiar snores of his friends and the peaceful breathing of the Longbottom boy who was dating Lily's blonde friend. Hm...that girl was pretty too, and as smart. Maybe he could find a way to get her later. He shrugged nonchalantly and settled into his bed, his piggish snoring joining the others.

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WOOOHOOO! Finally done with chapter FIVE! Only took me twenty years or so. Anywho, please review! I'll luff ya more then I already do you wonderful peoples!

_Denierure_


	6. having fun and getting caught

1Chapter 6

"Hello, Lil's" Jenny greeted as Lily plopped herself next to her by the fire one night.

"Hello, Jen. Where's Aphy?" Lily asked, slightly tilting her head. Jenny had a mad gleam in her eye.

"Who knows?" she said, raising her arms in an unbelieving gesture. Immediately, Lily attacked.

"You know something, I can tell! Tell me, Jen, tell me! Please! Or I'll hex you!" she pointed her wand threateningly. Jenny just smirked.

"Lily you wouldn't dare–" Jenny screamed as a blast of blue light threw her off the couch and onto the floor. She groaned and got off the floor.

"What was the point of that, Lil? All you did was get me off the couch so you could put your feet up." She lugged her now bruised body onto a near armchair. Lily was trying to hold back uncontrollable giggles and just motioned with her hand to a mirror in the corner of the room. Jenny's eyes widened and she dashed to the other side of the room, swearing profusely.

"Bloody MERLIN Lils, I have an AFRO!" she screeched, tugging at the oak colored friz ball atop her head.

"Would you like me to make it multi-colored or are you going to spill?" she pointed her wand at Jenny's hair and took in a breath.

"She's out snogging Lupin!" she clamped her hand over her jaw in shock, then dropped it to reveal a frightened expression.

"She's going to kill me!" Jenny dashed for the entrance to the common room. "Must go fix my mistake!" she yelled over her shoulder as she exited the room.

"Wont you be interrupting her snogfest!" Lily yelled at the top of her lungs and could hear a mumble of a reply, signally the fact that her friend was now halfway down the corridor. Lily shook her head incredulously. Suddenly hands fell over her eyes, causing her to gasp.

"GUE-ES WHOOOOO!" said a high pitched, fake male's voice. There was only one possibility. Black.

"Sparkoria." Lily said, pointing her wand at the person's hands and they jumped back in shock.

"Lilikins, their beautiful!" shrieked Sirius holding his glittering nails up to the light then giving her a playful glare. "Now how do you put them back?" Lily shrugged and lazily flicked her wand as she yawned openly. His nails grew several centimeter and became square and manicured at the edges.

"Hm...not as pretty as before, but they'll do!" He swished his wand at her and she screamed in playful delight as she felt her backside begin to hurt. She stood up and curled her new tail around her and fingered the tuft of soft fur with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Oh you are going to get it now!" she threw herself at him, screaming out hex after jinx; ditto for him. After several SECONDS, Lily had a trunk for a nose, her eyes were slanted and deep purple with yellow spots, her hair was streaked with glittering gold, instead of feet she now had hooves, but she wasn't anywhere near as bad as Sirius; His skin was silver and had a sheen, his hair was green, he had bunny ears, a snout, orange paws, whiskers of his own (but were several extra inches longer then lily's), and last but not least, AN AFRO! (Of course!)

"Wow Lilikins...I'm impressed." said Sirius feeling his fuzzy hair with approval. "You've almost become and honorary member of the marauders."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult." she said flicking him with her tail and letting a laugh escape her turquoise lips.

"Well, aren't you two a sight for sore eyes; though I don't imagine I look any better." said Jenny from the entrance, who didn't look too good herself. She had antlers on her head, a stubby, fluffy tail, and also had whiskers.

"I guess tails and whiskers are the new style." laughed a fifth year boy who walked by and exited the common room. The three friends burst out laughing and all fell to the ground, their sides heaving painfully.

"We need better hobbies you guys..."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Why isn't she wearing it! She's still wearing that stupid rose necklace James gave her...bullocks...I should have never suggested it...wait, was it me who suggested it? Or was it Remus, who remembered that roses were her second favorite flower?_ Peter's thoughts created a thick fog in his brain as he stared stupidly into space during his transfiguration class.

"Mr. Pettigrew! Can you please pay attention and transfigure your lizard into a Greek statue _like we've been doing for the past hour!" _snapped McGonagall impatiently, causing Peter to squeak and fall out of his chair in fright. Everyone in the class laughed and Professor McGonagall assigned Peter hid third detention that week (and it was only Tuesday afternoon). Peter noticed with shock and contained fury that his "friends" laughed the hardest, along with beauty and pretty (Lily and Alice). He watched with dismay. He pretended to pout (like he usually did) and Remus just patted him on the back with a wink.

"Don't worry Wormy, we'll rescue you this time." _Yeah right_, Peter thought grimly, _just like you "rescued" me the last four times by not showing your selfish popular faces even once!_

"Thanks guys!" he just squeaked back and they beamed with amusement. He was going to roll his eyes when he saw out of the corner of his eyes James lean to his right and kiss beauty, gently nibbling on her lip as McGonagall's back was turned. He looked at them with longing, but quickly snatched his attention away when he saw pretty looking at him with confusion.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_What could I do? What could I do? I've got it!_ Peter quickly grabbed a spare peace of parchment and scribbled a quick note on it, in his messy chicken scratch scrawl.

"_Dear Lily,_

_It's me! Your secret admirer! I have a favor to ask. Can you leave the purply stoned necklace under one of the sofa cushions in the common room? I..um, I decided to get you a bigger one! Yes, so please bring it at seven thirty tonight._

_Your...love,_

_Pet–pretty girls like you should have big jewelry!_

_Your Secret Admirer_

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lily looked at the note in confusion. It wasn't in the same handwriting as the other notes and that made her suspicious. Was someone trying to impersonate her secret admirer and steal the precious gifts? Since she was extremely hesitant, she asked Jenny.

"I think it's safe Lily. Just follow what your conscience says." well, if she followed her conscience then she wouldn't step anywhere near the common room couches anytime soon with her necklace. "Seriously Lily, lighten up! He obviously wants you to get the biggest, most beautiful thing possible!"

"But if he gets me anything bigger, then he'll break my neck!" Lily argued. Jenny rolled her eyes, and Lily knew when Jenny rolled her eyes that she wasn't just acting ditsy right now.

"Oh...alright." she picked up the necklace from her jewelry box and hurried down the girls staircase. She blew a breath of relief when she saw that the common room was empty. She ran over to the armchair next to the fireplace, which blazed and cast dark shadows behind her, and she took a deep breath when she lifted up the pillow, that laid there innocently, and set down the necklace. Surprisingly, she felt more optimistic now that the necklace had left her fingers. She put the pillow exactly as it had been before and silently ran back up the stairs.

Peter had been secretly watching beauty as her rich red curls draped down her beautiful and tempting body. How he wanted to lunge at her and strip her bare, revel in her large bosom and take advantage of her petit eroticism. But he knew if he did ANYTHING of the sort, he would first get expelled, then killed by James. So he jumped from his place and snatched up the necklace...

...just as the rest of the marauders entered into the room from the corridor.

"What are you doing with Lily's necklace?"

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CLIFFY! I was just gonna stop at corridor but...well I didn't so whatever. And yes, I realize that this story is...PG right? I don't even remember. And the part where Peter is think dirty thoughts about Lily...yeah, sorry about that part but I had to show how extreme his feelings are.

Reviews please! This chappy only took me two years to write! Yay! Actually, I wrote it in like a half hour earlier acsue I got to stay home, sicne I went to doctor to get my wrist examined. I sprained it really bad but I wont go into detail cause then you wont REVIEW!

PLEASE review. I'll luff ya always.

(I already luff my reviewers anyways!)

Denierure


	7. Slughorns office and a sore loser

1Leaving off where I left...off, wow that doesn't make sense but here's chapter SEVEN!

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"What are you doing with Lily's necklace?" asked James harshly. Peter, being his stupid self, try fruitlessly to hide it behind his back. Remus ran across the room and snatched it out of the whimpering boy's hands.

"Peter," he started hesitantly, "What's going on?" he asked suspiciously. Peter fumbled with his words, trying to think of a plausible excuse.

"I—well, I—um...—Okay! I give up!" he yelled raising his hands over his head. The other three boys' eyebrows shot up. "I'm stealing it for my girlfriend!" He hung his head shamefully. James, Remus, and Sirius looked at each other for a split-second then burst out laughing.

"G–good one Wormy." Sirius could barely enunciate his words, he was laughing so hard. Snorts issued from Remus.

"Honestly, Wormtail," started James, wiping tears from his eyes. "You're going to have to come up with something better then that. I mean, who would ever want to go out with you?" He laughed even harder then before. Peter was positively shocked and fuming.

"Beauty and Pretty would!" His eyes widened after he said this and he clamped his hands over his quivering mouth. The rest of the marauders looked at him quizzically.

"Who?" sputtered Sirius. He raised an eyebrow, amused. "There's nobody named beauty and pretty here."

"Just leave me alone!" shouted Peter, and he darted up the boys staircase. Remus turned to James.

"Don't the Marauder Codes say that if one of us is SURELY lying, that we can give him Veritaserum?"

"I think they do, Moony old pal. Shall we go for a snoop around Slughorn's personal stock?"

_(Did I ever say who their Potions teacher was? Oh well, its Slughorn now.)_

"I think we shall."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Da dum...da dum...da dum da dum da dum da dum da daaaaaaaaa...dadadadadum. Da—ow!"

(That's the song from pink panther in you didn't know)

"Sirius, you're making this a tad bit more difficult with your little inconspicuous music."

"Sorry."

"James, this is the way to _Charms_! We have to go down that staircase—"

"No, James, we have to go through that corridor and then—"

"No, that corridor leads to _Transfiguration_—!"

"GUYS! I've been here for seven bloody years; I think I know the ways to the dungeons! And its THIS way."

That entire conversation was _supposedly _done in a whisper, seeing as the three boys were under James' invisibility cloak and were sneaking through the school at one o'clock in the morning trying to steal a solution of veritaserum to give to Peter so he would tell the truth about why he was stealing Lily's necklace when nobody was around.

_Anywho_, they crept down a few more flights of stairs and empty hallways, inconspicuous whispers seeming to follow them the whole way. Finally, when they reached the dungeons, James slipped out from under the invisibility cloak and tip-toed to Slughorn personal stock room. The door creaked slightly as he opened it but the audible snores issuing from Slughorn's bedroom gave James the courage to continue on. He read about fifty label's before finding it; it looked to be just small bottle of water but James knew that swirling around in that innocent looking mixture was a shortcut to knowing things you really shouldn't. He snatched it up, uncorked it, and poured three drops into a bottle he had brought from his potions supplies. He stashed it in his pocket, returned the original bottle back to its place, and ventured back into the dungeons classroom.

"Sirius–Remus..." he whispered. He felt around with his hands. A voice behind him made his skin crawl.

"Why hello Potter."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh how I've awaited this day..." said Diggory his wand pointed directly at James's throat.

(GWAHA! Tis Diggory the sore loser!)

"What are the odds that on the one night I decided to take a short midnight stroll I happen to bump into the lovely EX-boyfriend of my current girlfriend?" James replied with a smirk.

"'current' shall be the key term there I think..."

"What are you going to do? Hex me till I say 'uncle'? Or perhaps kill me? Neither likely." said James, pretending to act cocky while putting his hands behind his back when actually his fingers just closed around the tip of his wand in his back pocket.

"Aww..." Amos cooed. "Of course arrogant, conceited Potter would _never _think _anybody _would _ever _try to harm perfect head _boy_..." Amos started to circle around James; James followed suit.

"That's where you're wrong..." he said softly, he legs crossing over each other as he walked but stayed facing Diggory.

"Wrong?...I think not." Amos replied just as soft. James' eyes narrowed.

"You don't deserve Lily..."

"And you think you do?"

"Yes I do, as a matter of fact!" he whipped out his wand and performed a powerful shield charm just as Diggory fired a hex at him. The hex bounced off his shield and hit the ceiling with an audible BANG. He ducked another hex and dashed out the door. The snores coming from Slughorn's door had ceased when he yelled and he knew Slughorn would be out within seconds; his only hope was that the potions teacher would catch Diggory.

He ran like the Dickens down the corridor when he heard a sort of half-whisper half-yell.

"James! Under here!" he saw legs appear and ducked under his invisibility cloak, colliding with his friends but not knocking them off their feet.

"Bloody Merlin James, what's going on in there!" asked Sirius.

"Where on earth were you!" James ignored Sirius question.

"Sirius was going to visit the kitchens but I stopped him when I heard someone's voice. Let's go." said Remus, trying to usher the two glaring boys back towards Gryffindor Tower. They reluctantly started into a jog.

"Do you always have to think about food?" James couldn't help but ask. Sirius was about to reply a nasty retort when Remus said, with finality,

"Both of you, drop it! We'll discuss this with Lily and the girls tomorrow."

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There. I know this chapter was a bit short but hey, feel grateful I didn't stop at the first mention of Diggory like I was going to.

Review please! And don't waste your flames; like I say, I'll use them to make my smores.

Denierure


	8. Telling Lily and meeting Alice

1Chapter 8 for my reviewers (is you haven't noticed, I'm really getting back into this one I shall also proceed with my locked up story during holiday break...if I have time.

BONZAI! And proceed–

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"You're kidding..." said Lily breathlessly after James retold the story the next day; Remus thought he exaggerated a bit.

"Prongs, there were no fists involved and you know it...stop trying to act all macho for Lily."

"I never said I didn't like macho." said Lily wink a wink and pecked James on the cheek. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Anyway...what are we going to do about Peter?" he said, his voice dropping to a whisper as they wove through the throng of students to Potions. "I haven't seen him in classes all day..."

"I wonder why..." James commented with venom; Lily noticed but didn't say a word. James, Sirius, and Remus had decided not to tell the girls about their discovery of Peter; they believed the three females would not react well to the news. Lily gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"It's okay James...I'll give you a snog later, free of charge." This made James holler with laughter.

"You know you sounded like Sirius there..."

"Shut up!" she playfully punched his upper arm. They walked with smiles on their faces, not having to stop to pick up Peter's dropped and spilled book bag; not having to mutter the counter curse for a jinx the Slytherins threw at him, because he was so slow at dodging; no looks of awe whenever they said anything or even nothing at all, with just their actions for him to admire. No sniveling Wormtail to look after because he was so..so..._pathetic_. What did the most handsome, smartest boys in Hogwarts ever have to do with the most annoying pitiful dreadful fat Peter Pettigrew.

Oh...if he knew their thoughts then...how angry he would be...his supposed "friends"...he could inform master, then master could get rid of them and leave Beauty and Pretty for his own like and pleasure...if only _they _knew what he was up to...they would look at _him _in awe...they'd bow at his feet and beg for forgiveness...they would _have _to with the dark magic he possessed..._oh_...how he wished to finish them off himself!...He wished he had never been in Gryffindor...he would have done _much _better in Slytherin...

"_Wormtail!" _a voice whispered fiercely in his head. He was so frightened, he fell out of the low branch he had been sitting on all day; he landed with a sickening CRASH!

"M-master!" he said out loud incredulously.

"Yes...Wormtail...I have good news and bad news...which do you wish to hear first?"

"It-it doesn't matter, master."

"Well...it seems that your Potter friend is a very important character in my plot...as it turns out–"

"James!"

"Don't interrupt me! And yes him...it appears to be that his first-born child is rumored to..."

"To what, master?" Peter urged.

"Can I trust you?"

"Of course master! I am but your most humble and faithful and loyal–"

"Yes, yes, Wormtail I get it, but...the firstborn child of James Potter will either destroy me or make me."

"What do you mean by that, master?"

"What I said is clear enough! Besides, I do not know enough to even believe such a rumor...it can hardly be true...why the young boy would have to train for years to defeat someone as powerful as me, why, not even Dumbledore–"

"Master! Someone is coming!"

"Then stop yelling or you will give yourself away. Visit me with the mirror tonight...we shall discuss this matter _more_." And the mind-link vanished. Peter scrambled to his feet just as he heard approaching voices.

"Hello? Hello? Is anybody out here?" Peter panicked. It was Pretty! He could just make out the beautiful golden strait hair and shockingly beautiful violet eyes. She was drawing nearer. When she was only about five feet away, he rolled out from under the bushes. She gave a small scream.

"What on EARTH are you doing out here!"

"I–I, um, well...skipping."

"I'm a prefect; detention tonight! Your name is Pettigrew, right? You know the rules..." he nodded glumly. "Meet McGonagall after classes...I'll tell her. Don't be late." she was about to run away when, out of the blue, asked, "Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look so sad...your soul seems to be filled with anger, confusion, and a dark bond...oh, so sorry! I'm rambling! Don't forget, tonight." and with that she walked away. She called over her shoulder,

"I'm a bit of a seer you see! This is quite normal for a conversation I take part in!" And Peter's love for her grew...maybe his first target would be her instead of beauty...Pretty was definitely nicer, and more natural looking then red haired, green eyed freak Evans...what was he saying! He loved Lily...he could never give her up!

But first he had to somehow get her...Yes, it would make things so much easier from there on.

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"Turns out Peter was skipping...I heard from Alice yesterday that she had found him outside all alone. Said she might have freaked him out a bit with her seer instinct thing you know...did you know that once she prophesied that I would marry Sirius?"

"Mate...I think she was lying, Moony old pal." James sated while laughing. Remus blushed with embarrassment.

"I am NOT in LOVE with SIRIUS you guys! Why wont you all drop it!"

"Its...funny cause...it's..._true_!" Lily choked out between uncontrollable giggles. Sirius immediately scooted away from Remus.

"Hey mate, I know we're friends and all but...this is going a bit far don't you think? I'm not ready for a relationship!" Remus sighed quite loudly and ran his hand through his tousled sandy hair.

"Anyways..." said James, slinging his arm over Lily's shoulders and pulling her gently against his body. "I heard a rumor last period that there's going to be a dance sort of thing coming up...now, doesn't that sound like fun?" he asked. Lily's eyes suddenly sparkled.

"Really, James? Oh, that would be wonderful! Oh, and I forgot to mention you guys, another package arrived this morning!" she held out her right hand; on her middle finger sparkled an emerald placed in a silver band. "Looks a bit Slytherinish, but seeing as green _is _my second favorite color, I don't mind." she snuggled closer to James. He was all of a sudden beaming.

"Thanks for telling me Lily; I'm gonna have to match up to this guy sooner or later. I'm going to get you an emerald three times as big as this one!"

"Not if you run out of money by the end of this you wont." Aphrodite whispered in his ear with a smirk. That instantly shut him up.

"Let's not dwell on the negative." James said pointedly to Aphrodite and Jenny, giving them each a look in turn.

"You know," Remus started hesitantly, "I'm starting to dislike Peter more and more each day recently, but I feel bad for saying that."

"Don't feel bad Moony!" bellowed Sirius, "I actually like this new atmosphere. There's less stumbling and fumbling and repairing unneeded damages to my pride for hanging out with vermin like _him_."

"Sirius..." started James cautiously, "we weren't going to discuss this, remember?"

"Discuss what?" Jenny asked, now totally focused on the conversation.

"The fact that Peter betrayed us; especially you." he pointed at Lily. She brought her hand to her chest and furrowed her brows at him.

"What exactly did Peter do to me?"

"He tried to steal your necklace!"

"It was him!" she was genuinely shocked...but deep down...she knew that messy scrawl had looked faintly familiar..."No..." she didn't believe someone like Peter was capable of such treachery...she knew he was a bit retarded...but this was too much...stupid, brainless Peter wouldn't be able to pull off such a scheme, even if he _really _tried! "I don't believe he would be able to pull such a thing off!"

"Well...we did kind of catch him...meaning he didn't _really _pull it off in the first place." Sirius mumbled.

"Again...let's not dwell on the negative and stupid." James stated.

"Guess we shouldn't talk about Sirius then." Jenny said with a smirk.

"Hey!"

"Oh...shut up you fool." she said, kissing him softly. "I was only joking." Sirius was now grinning.

"I don't _care _if you think I'm stupid! Not if I get this as a reward." and he pounced on Jenny; literally, kissing her passionately.

"Ugh! Padfoot! Get off her, that's disgusting!" James yelled, pulling Lily into his lap, away from harm.

"Excuse me Mr. Potter! No public display of affection if you please."

"Well I _don't _please, not with you anyway, and shouldn't you be lecturing him? Hey Jenny, if you were a virgin before today, you wont be for long."

"SHALL we change the subject PLEASE?" Aphrodite said quite loudly as people in the common room were starting to stare.

"Yeah, Sirius, get off her." Remus said, pushing the boy off of poor Jenny onto the floor.

"Ah, look, Remus has come to my rescue...shall I give him a kiss too?"

"I don't think so." said Aphy, entwining her fingers with Remus'. He looked _very _happy.

"I think this year has been the _best_ so far. Well, excluding second year when James kept tripping cause he was staring at Lily every second."

That made James blush ten different shades of scarlet.

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Ah, yes, this year will be fun to write about, it has been already. I'll try to update soon, don't worry, once I get the next chapter started I'll get myself onto one of my rolls, then I wont stop.

Review's please! Luff ya all!

Denierure


	9. Rumor of a Dance?

1Chapter Nine: Rumor of a Dance?

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Students wove through the mass of people on their way to their respective common rooms to drop off their things before dinner. Just as the Marauders, Lily, Jenny, Aphrodite, and surprisingly Peter, sat down after a long day of work work work...a voice came on as if over a speaker. It was McGonagall's voice.

"Will all students report to the Great Hall immediately for a short announcement before dinner. Immediately." Talk erupted from the anxious blabber mouths of the population of Hogwarts in each common room. The Gryffindors all started putting in their two-piece about what they thought was going to be announced. The Hufflepuffs (in which most of the gossiper's dwelled) crossed their common room to join a new group of conversation every fifteen seconds. The Ravenclaws shrugged an occasionally voiced their thoughts about this "announcement". The Slytherins gave each other dubious looks as to whether they thought this new information was worth their time. Nevertheless, every child of the Hogwarts population made their way down their dormitory steps and entered the mob of students flooding the hallway and everyone, in a mere fifteen minutes, had seated themselfs anxiously, but comfortably, in their seat. Before any excited chatter could erupt among the carefree pupils though, Dumbledore clapped his hands for silence.

"Good evening, everyone." he paused temporarily to look at a few individual children before continuing, a twinkle in his eye. "I have heard a rumor that needs to be discontinued. This rumor states that Hogwarts is, in fact, hosting a ball this year–" excited chatter, "I am disappointed though to say that that particular rumor is, in fact, false." collective groaning here issued simultaneously, "But–" there was a hopeful glint in everyone's eyes yet, "We will be hosting an International Endeavour for Magical Cooperation. Or, how many of you will most likely refer to it, I.E.M.C." collective gasp. "But, we will still hold a ball in its honor, in which the theme will be A Style from Any and Every Era." Everyone in the Great Hall cheered just as their goblets filed with pumpkin juice and their plates of chicken and potatoes. Everyone's eyes sparkled and their mouths watered at their long-awaited meal. "Now please; dig in!" Everyone dutifully did just so.

"Wow James...you were almost right! I wonder who started that rumor..." Lily stated as everyone settled into their food.

"My money's on the Hufflepuffs...though Merlin knows where they would hear such a thing." said Sirius.

"I wonder where they've learned it all." Aphrodite responded bluntly. Jenny lightly shoved her.

"Hey, don't be rude Aphy."

"My bad." she said, but with a smile. "Only stating that truth."

"Which happens to cause a bit of damage in your case." Remus whispered loudly enough for the seven friends to hear. Sirius faked tears.

"Shut up, Padfoot." and "Shut up Sirius." and "Shut up Siri-poo." all sounded at the same time, Jenny's remark earning her a few tentative stares, then the whole gang burst into laughter. People gave them envious stares.

"I can't wait to shop for my dress robes!" Lily exclaimed.

"But Dumbledore said that it was whatever style you wanted to dress in, so you don't even have to wear robes if you don't want to." stated Aphrodite matter-of-factly. Everyone raised an eyebrow.

"Well what are you going to wear?" Lily asked incredulously, and before Sirius could help himself,

"Nothing." he grinned cheekily.

"Well, that's a bit bold if you ask me, Padfoot." replied James.

"I sure wouldn't go." said Lily joking. James gazed at her offended.

"You wouldn't go to a nude ball, Lils?" She stared at him incredulously.

"Would you!"

"As a matter of fact—"

"Don't answer that." she said, though with a mile, and pecked him on the lips. "Mmm...gravy?" she asked. His laughter boomed across the hall and was contagious.

"Yes, Lils. _Gravy_."

"I don't see why you find that funny." he smiled and kissed her, receiving several stares.

"James, you're attracting attention..."

"I can't help that you're beautiful Lils, you know that." she blushed.

"Stop..."

"No really, Lils—"

"Will you two stop flirting so we can carry on a civilized conversation?"

"Yes mum." they replied at the same time, causing everyone to laugh. Remus mock glared.

"So, Aphy, what _are_ you going to wear?"

"How about I show you guys some pictures later?"

"Yay! Window shopping!" Jenny exclaimed. The men shook their heads with smirks.

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"Okay, here it is." said Aphrodite, after rummaging in her trunk for several minutes, the two friends catching phrases like "Where is it?" and "I know I put it in here..." then "AHA!" Aphrodite seated herself on Jenny's bed, between Jenny and Lily and opened a blank, white catalog.

"Um...Aphy? This is a blank magazine." Lily broke the silence.

"Yes Lily, thank you for stated the complete and utter obvious but that's where the magic comes in." she winked.

"What time period Lily?"

"Hmm...well...I've always had a soft spot for the 50's...?"Aphrodite held the catalog directly in front of her face and said, clearly and in a strong voice. "50's. dresses. formal. reveal!" instantly ink started the form curly words at the top of the page and eventually spelt: Lady Katerina's All Wear/Any Year Attire. Pictures popped onto the page and Lily looked at them with zeal and anticipation. Aphrodite smirked at her friends hungry expressions and they looked up at her expectantly. Aphrodite's tinkling laugh met their ears.

"Lady Katerina is my aunt. She's filthy rich and has finally found a way to spend her money to benefit others. I also have a discount, being her favorite niece and all."

"Aphy..." Jenny said weakly, looking at the glossy pictures as if she were taking her last breath and this was the last thing she'd ever see, "People will be crawling all over you for this!"

"Nope. Only my closest friend are allowed to share my discount. And besides, my Aunt only gives out her flyers and catalogs to her richest or best costumers. Oh! And relatives of course." The three girls immediately set to work on their choices.

"First of all, which color looks best on me?" Jenny asked.

"Hmm...I think...red...and yellow. The yellow brings out your highlights but the red makes you look hot."

"What about me?" Lily interjected.

"Green of course!"

"Dark or light?"

"Hmm...that's tough...both make you look awesome. Dark is sophisticated but light is fun."

"How about we see what we come across and anything we like we'll keep a tag on?"

"That's brilliant Jenny!"

"I was born to do this!" she said dramatically then turned to Aphrodite. "But I don't want to wear anything from the 50's...maybe a bit more modern is the way I want to go...anyway, what colors would look best on her, Lily?" Aphrodite suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Guys...anything is fine, I don't want something fancy–..."

"Nonsense!" Jenny insisted. "Blue of course...maybe pink. But no orange..." each girl shook their head grimly. "Orange was made to torture all fashion." each girl nodded. "So...ooh! I love that design. Read the specific outline Aphy." Aphrodite leaned closer and read the tiny print.

"Adorable shirtwaist dress from the 50's in a medium weight cream color silk sprinkled with tiny pink roses with green leaves. Kimono style pintucked shirtwaist bodice has 3/4 sleeves with button french cuffs, peter pan collar and white pearly button closures. Full skirt is gathered at waistline. Side metal zipper closure. Belt and petticoat added for display purposes. Not included unless asked for specifically. Yes girls I think one is exceptionally lovely."

"Aphy, it would look wonderful on you!" Lily said persistently.

"Me? Guys...really...do you think so?"

"Yes! The color would look beautiful on you! I'm writing its number down." said Lily picking up a pad and pencil and immediately scribbled away. "What's next?" she said, acting like an receptionist. Jenny gasped. "What? What do you see?"

"That necklace would look beautiful with your dress Aphy! Look at it." This time Lily read the tiny-lettered paragraph next to the picture.

"Sweet little vintage choker has white molded plastic flowers with diamond centers. Oh Aphy, isn't that just lovely? It would look smashing with your dress!"

"Okay. Then that's what I'll wear." Lily and Jenny squealed.

"Okay Lily, what about you?" They spent the next ten minutes looking through the catalog but Lily found nothing to her liking."

"Oh...tush. Nothing would look good on me. And I really do like their style. Oh well. A different era I presume?"

"You presumed right Sherlock. What next?" Jenny rased her hand. "Yes, Jenny?" Aphrodite dragged on dramatically.

"I want to wear a floor length velvet gown." Aphrodite spoke to the magazine and again, pictures, though completely different, appeared on the page. Jenny took one look at it and she smiled as radiantly as the sun.

"That one." She jabbed her finger at a dress that was blood red with lighter red swirls, was spaghetti strapped with a low neck that showed a lot of cleavage, then a slit that ran up the leg and stopped mid thigh on the left side.

"Jenny Mara! That's completely slutty!"

"Yes...but Sirius will drool." Lily and Aphrodite shook their heads grimly.

"Now..._for you._" Jenny had a mad glint in her eyes. Lily backed away.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not wearing anything like that!"

"It would please James."

"Isn't that your mission in life?"

"To please him?"

"Well...yes–I mean no–I mean–STOP PLAYING WITH MY HEAD! I want something decent alright?"

"Oh..alright Lily, but you spoil all the fun..." Lily glared then had an idea.

"How about something medieval?" Each pair of eyes sparkled simultaneously. They changed the style then flipped through the pages, Lily smacking the page so as to stop the ferocious turning. They looked at the page and Lily knew.

"That's the one guys. I know it."

"_Fenella_, celtic for fair, has a beautiful ivory velvet bodice, with draped neck and copper coloured celtic embroidery. It is matched with a crepe fishtail skirt. Lily, that dress is perfect and it would hug all your curves. It'll look really sexy on you." Lily laughed and Jenny's remark.

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_Okay, I am SO sorry this took forever to update. I was wondering where this story was going but then I had a strike of genius! The exchange student people thing where the people come, which I will go into further detail in the next chapter. Review please!_

_Denierure_


	10. Requests for the heads

1Chapter 10—finally in the double digits!—Requests

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"Good Morning." said Lily cheerfully, seating herself between James and Jenny. She gave James a quick kiss then picked up a piece of toast, ignoring his pout. "So...you boys excited about the I.E.M.C.?"

"Oh yes!" said Sirius exuberantly. "Lots of pretty foreign girls!"

"I beg your pardon?" hissed Jenny venomously. Sirius cowered.

"Nothing, Jen' dear, nothing at all." then flashed her a trademark smile.

"That wont soften me up Black." She retorted. He just gave her a wink and she rolled her eyes.

"I can't wait to speak to all the delegates!" said Aphrodite excitedly. "I especially want to have a nice long chat with the Japanese ambassadors about how their ecosystem has been holding up since—"

"Aphy! Please, spare us this once." Jenny said, stabbing a sausage with her knife and, subconsciously seductively, pulled it off with her teeth making a sort of grating sound on the metal.

"Jen, you do not know how sexy that looked." said Sirius. Jenny blushed.

"I didn't do anything!"

"You're the envy of everyone...but that's only because you're dating me!" he added as an after-thought. She narrowed her eyes, raising a dubious eyebrow.

"I'm sure." Just then Professor McGonagall came up behind the carefree teens and prodded Lily and James' back.

"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you both in his office. He will provide you with breakfast and excuses for your tardiness of class. Please follow me." she said tartly and turned on heel. Lily and James simultaneously shrugged but nonetheless stood up and followed her.

"See you later!" Sirius called over many heads. He and James did an odd sort of hand-twist-gesture that Lily had never seen before, but shrugged off as well.

In no time at all they were in front of the stone gargoyle.

"Acid Pops." The gargoyle leapt aside and the three entered a spiraling staircase. Lily and James gave each other one curious look before they reached a solid oak wood door. "Professor Dumbledore is waiting for you in there. You can go in." They did.

The first time Lily had ever seen Albus Dumbledore's office was when she had been nominated Gryffindor Prefect two years previous. It had hardly changed, the only difference was a small baby phoenix instead of the fully grown one she had last seen. Of course, she knew all about Phoenix's, having studied further into the species because it interested her so much. She had wanted one ever since and couldn't wait to go "find" one. She, however, wasn't able to ponder much on the subject of phoenix's as she and James were herded into the room by McGonagall and shoved into chairs. Dumbledore's smile broadened at the pair and his eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Miss Evans! Mr. Potter! How wonderful to see you two." He said, as if they were long-lost friends. "I am sure you have wondered why I have summoned you here at this fine hour in the morning."

"Its seven forty-five sir."

"Yes Mr. Potter, I am fully aware of the time, seeing as I own several clocks in this very room. Now, what I really wanted to discuss..." he leaned in, "instead of clocks, if I may..." Lily and James also leaned in anxiously, "is a proposition." Lily and James looked politely confused.

"For what?" James asked. "sir." he added. Dumbledore smiled mischievously.

"You, of course, know about the International Endeavor for Magical Cooperation. You ,also know that delegates will be sent from their home countries to come here for a week stay to experience and learn about our culture and way of living...the proposition, if you haven't already realized, is that we, in turn, and I'm referring to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, must send two of our own delegates to each school that is a participant in the International Endeavor for Magical Cooperation organization. The staff and I, needless to say, have nominated the two of you." Lily and James were speechless.

"Are you _serious_ Professor?" Lily stated aghast after several seconds of stunned silence.

"No, I believe that would be Mr. Black who we have not nominated pertaining to certain...er...reasons." He said with a chuckle. Lily laughed back feebly, still in a state of shock, but James roared along with Dumbledore. "So...will you two be accepting?" He had a questioning and curious expression on his face. Lily's thoughts went something like this:

_Oh my gosh..this is the chance of a life-time! This is most likely to never happen for a very long time and this is my last year at Hogwarts! To go to a whole new country and learn their life style...wow...but then what about back here? I'll be missing Aphy and Jenny, not to mention the rest of the marauders, thought it would be nice to have some alone time with James...a whole week away from teachers...of course I'm sure there'll be teachers there, wherever we're being sent to...but hey, they don't have to know me and James are together, so they'll never suspect a thing! We could finally have some time together! Oh...but I bet we'll be really busy...doing delegate things and such...oh! And we'll be missing conversing with all the delegates who come here, to Hogwarts, and we'll miss getting to meet all the backgrounds...If we go visit someplace the only people we'll be seeing will be the people who live there...oh, wait! I forgot! They're sending delegates to every country participating in I.E.M.C. so I'll still get to see the different cultures and meet and speak with everyone. _Lily sat straighter in her seat, feeling more assured about her mental debate with her conscience. James thoughts went a _bit_ more like this:

_I hope me and Lily can share a room!_

Oh, if only, if only...if only Dumbledore knew the thoughts of his two head students. Lily had a sneaking suspicion he did. Suddenly, without any warning, Fawkes leapt off his golden perch and flew over to Lily, landing gracefully on her shoulder.

"Hello boy." she said softly, patting his head. Dumbledore beamed.

"I see you have an interest in my friend, Miss Evans?"

"Oh yes, sir!" said Lily, her eyes sparkling, "I absolutely love them! I'm going to find one for myself one day." she said matter-of-factly. Dumbledore chuckled.

"If there is any way I can help, please feel free to ask."

"Actually, Professor...I was wondering...how did you come about with Fawkes?"

"What do you mean Miss Evans?"

"How did...well, how do I put this...how did you _get _Fawkes?" she said lamely. A clouded look came over Dumbledore's eyes.

"That, Miss Evans, I'm afraid I cannot answer." Lily's cheeks inflamed profusely.

"I'm sorry sir—! I didn't mean...I—um—sorry." James nudged her with his eyebrows raised humorously.

"Lils...I think this is where you shut up." Lily mock glared at him.

"So," Dumbledore pulled the attention back to himself, "do you two agree? Would you like to be one of our groups of exchange students?" their brows furrowed in thought.

"I think I'll have to think about it Professor," Lily threw a look at James out of the corner of her eye, her head barely tilted in his direction. "James?"

"I'll have to ask my parents. It'll be a bit tricky though...they're very hesitant about me doing anything remotely dangerous."

"And how would this be dangerous, Mr. Potter?"

"Well, your sending me to a foreign country, of course! Don't you think that's a bit risky for its inhabitants?" he said with a smirk.

"I think you'll be alright. Now—toast?" he pulled a plate out of no where and set it on the edge of his desk, motioning for Lily and James to take one.

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"Your joking, right?"

"No Jenny, I'm not joking."

"You've been chosen to go to a whole different country?"

"Yes Jenny."

"And you're even thinking about accepting, _even a tiny bit_?"

"Ye–why not?" Lily asked, putting her hand son her hips. Jenny grabbed Lily's shoulder's in a frenzy.

"You can't leave me!"

"And why can I not leave you pray tell?"

"Because I'll do naughty things with Sirius that you don't approve of." She ignored Lily's shudder and continued. "How am I supposed to control myself without your little voice in my head?"

"Substitute my voice for Aphy's then. I really want to go!"

"Nope, Aphy will forget...she's not as consistent as you are."

"Then use magic. I know there's a way to put my voice in your head (without your having a guilty conscious for no reason)."

"Li-ly!" Jenny insisted, stamping her foot on the ground like a child. "Stop making up excuses!"

"I could say the same about you!" Lily shifted her book bag irritably to her other shoulder. Jenny huffed and ran in the direction of the great hall (the two girls had been on their way to the common room). Lily threw her hands up in exasperation.

"WHY ME!" she exclaimed. A hand draped over her shoulder.

"Because you're drop dead gorgeous and _all mine_." said James, kissing her unexpectedly. When he pulled away he ruffled her hair. "So...not a bit unlike Dumbledore to pop a good one on us like that, eh?"

"Huh?"

"About being exchange students and whatnot." he said airily, then turned serious. "You are going to go, aren't you? I've already got the approval from my parents."

"Was it easy?" she asked sarcastically. James didn't notice.

"Yeah, it was actually. I thought for sure my mum would flip out about me being so far away from home but...ah well, I've already got in, so what's it matter anyways? Now all I have to do is wiggle out of you that 'Yes, James, Lord of all hotness and coolness, I would love to grace your presence and come along with you on this rendezvous...oh James! Kiss me! Kiss me!'" he answered cheekily.

"I think people are wondering why you are demanding you kiss yourself."

"Ah Lily, the Queen of Obvious, Princess—"

"If you don't stop giving me and yourself titles we're both going to wind up being statue's that hide Dumbledore's liquor stash or something."

"What?" he asked laughing.

"'Lily the Obvious'" she mimicked, "I'll be a painting on the third floor in no time." and she couldn't help a small giggle along with his hearty, head-back, full-out roar. "You know...I'm not really hungry."

"Well I am—"

"Oh look! It's raining!" Lily flew away from him and towards a nearby window that showed rain drifting down in sheets over the great lake and the forbidden forest. The window was only a few feet off the ground, and fairly wide, so Lily dropped her book bag on the stone floor with a soft thump and hitched herself up onto the broad windowsill. James joined her.

"I love the rain." she stated.

"I love you." he had never taken his eyes off her as they sat in silence. She averted her gaze from the rain to his deep hazel eyes.

"I love you too." she replied softly. She turned herself around, and scooted herself into his lap. He folded his arms around her small body and took a deep breath, burring his head in the crook of her neck and inhaled the scent of her soft hair.

"Please say you'll come." he pleaded, after a few moments of just their breathing. The gray sky comforted their restless spirits.

"You sound as if your asking me to run away with you."

"And if I was...?" he left off as he felt her body temporarily tense, then relax.

"I'd follow you in a heartbeat."

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AW! Absolutely could not resist a fluffy moment. Don't you just love the rain? It always calms me. Anywho, please review! They are very much appreciated. And go ahead and ask some question about the I.E.M.C., I'll be happy to answer them in the next chapter (whether individually or as a whole I haven't decided yet) I also am going to add a one shot, possibly short five chapter-like fic about a few felines and our heroic duo (I am talking, of course, about Lils and Jamsie) ...just thought I'd mention. And I have a ton of idea's I'm dying to get down on paper and/or computer so you have been warned!

Denierure


	11. They said yes!

1Chapter 11:

Oh, and just a little note, well a change I've made. In the second chapter I said that Lily's mom was mean or well Lily didn't like her very much. Well, I'm changing her to a very loving and caring mother so get used to it! SO yeah, in the future when I mention Lily's mother, it isn't the mean old woman I described in chapter two. She's nice, well as nice as any other mother is (in fact, I'm basing her off of my own mother, who is EXTREMELY talkative and outgoing...Lily's father is shy and quiet like herself). Yeah, just a note.

Thanks to all my reviews! I'd individually thank you all but that's A LOT of people. Like fifteen or something.

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_Dear Mum, Dad...and Petunia. Me, along with James Potter (remember, the boy I told you about whose head boy with me?) have been nominated to be delegates to go to a neighboring country (you know sort of like exchange students) to represent Hogwarts in the National Endeavor for Magical Cooperation. I, however, need to acquire your permission (written on paper is preferred Dumbledore said, though I can't think of any other way you could contact me...) to attend this once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-like event. Can I go, PLEASE? I've never wanted anything more then to go in my entire life! Well...almost anything...but we wont go into that! Again, PLEASE? I would love you forever (not that I already don't, of course!) and cannot, at the present, think of any sort of bribe to perhaps influence your answer. Send back an answer (hopefully a yes!) as soon as you can! I am in a complete state of anxiousness!_

_My love to you, as always,_

_Lily_

Lily folded her letter, picked up a long stick-like glass instrument with a small cup on the end that had been suspended on a rack over the common room fire and was full of melted, silver envelope wax (that greatly resembled unicorn blood they had studied in Care of Magical Creatures), and poured a small amount on the tip of the pointed crease on her letter. She wordlessly picked up her stamp (that consisted of a lily intertwined with two vines) and pressed it down upon the wax for five seconds, creating a metallic masterpiece. She pulled it away, masterly not spilling or trailing a single drop and laid it on an empty end table next to her for the wax to dry. She sighed in exhaustion and leaned back into the soft, color-fading cushions of the couch she was occupying, rubbing her sore and tired eyes. Just hours ago she had been in James' arms, staring out into wet nothingness across the magnificent Hogwarts ground that, at the time, had acquired a misty-gray glow, satisfying her conscious and sinus' beautifully. _James... _just his name made her feel bubbly inside. She couldn't help it, though; she was in love. And thinking it wasn't enough. She had to tell him.

"James!" She yelled, making her way up the boy's staircase.

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"James!" a female voice shouted up the stairs. James' head snapped up from his Herbology book. That was Lily's voice. He grinned. She was coming to see him. That simple concept made him want to jump off his bed and whoop as loud as he could, scoop her up into his arms and ride away with her along the horizon.

"James!" She yelled again, flinging the door open and running inside into his arms. They stayed like that for a few seconds until she let go and look strait into his eyes.

"James..." she started hesitantly, then building up the courage, "James...do you...well, do you love me?" She asked, staring at her shoes while her cheeks flushed. James gaped at her for the longest time. Lily took this for a bad sign, still not looking him in the eye.

"Lils, of course!" And he swooped down and kissed her. She opened her mouth for entry and he immediately conveyed to her wishes. They kissed, still in each others arms, until he picked her up and carried her to his bed.

(EW! All you perverts, its not what you think!)

He pulled away from her and sat up against his headboard; Lily maneuvered herself into his lap, as she had done earlier.

"I'm glad...cause I love you too."

"Well, that's vital if I'm going to propose, isn't it?"

"What!" she whipped her head around looking at his small grin.

"Not yet." He said gently. "But when we graduate I fully intend to make you permanently mine. Then I wont have to get permission to get in your pants."

"James!" She yelled disapprovingly but nonetheless squealed and threw her arms around his neck. "I say yes! Yes! I don't care about waiting for a ring! Oh I wish we could get married now..."

"Oh, believe me, you wont be this determined once you start living with me...just ask Sirius." James replied laughing. She gave him a quick kiss before exiting his dormitory, stopping to give him one, last loving look before she skipped down the stairs to inform her friends of her new 'discovery'.

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After informing her friends of James' 'proposal' they each squealed simultaneously and hugged her multiple times.

"Oh Lily! I'm so jealous!" Jenny yelled, hugging Lily again, who didn't realize she was positively beaming. "Stupid Sirius...so thick that Snape would propose to me before him..." She huffed.

"I'm sorry, but did I just hear my name and Snape's in the same sentence?" Came a mock outraged cry from behind the girls and Sirius wrapped his arms around Jenny's waist, staring at the girls with raised eyebrows.

"Just saying how Snape's going to propose to her before you." Aphrodite smirked. Sirius' mouth dropped in the fraction of a second after her statement. Jenny was blushing embarrassedly.

"WHAT?" he roared, releasing his grip on Jenny's waist and spinning her around to face him. His brow was furrowed and he had a dangerous glint in his eyes. "She's kidding right?" Jenny pushed him away.

"So what if she's _not_?" she shot back. His eyes widened.

"There's no way...you're a Gryffindor—"

"Why would that change anything?" She yelled, her face contorted in a glare. His resembled the same. Lily and Aphrodite slowly back away, not wanting to interfere on Jenny and Sirius' first true fight. "You've heard Aphy! Inter-house relationships are encouraged!"

"I can't believe I'm having THIS fight with YOU of all people! Snape wouldn't give you a second glance!"

"I BEG YOUR PARDON!" Jenny was internally grateful that the spot were they were arguing, next to the oak front doors, was deserted of any other students.

"I forbid you to any fraternizing with the slytherins!" He had reached for her wrists and were holding them in a vice-grip, making sure she stared into his eyes as he spoke.

"You can't order me around! I don't belong to you!" She tried to free herself from her grip but realized too late that he was much stronger then her. All of a sudden, he waved his wand at the front doors and they swung open. He dragged Jenny's unwilling body outside, amid many yells and protests.

"I hate you! You're insufferable! You're a complete prick! All you care about is yourself and anything else that concerns you! Your more like your father then I thought!" She realized she had gone too far. He immediately dropped her arms and they fell limp at her sides.

"I..." He whispered menacingly, "am nothing like my father..." and with that he turned around and ran towards the Quidditch stadium.

"Sirius! I'm sorry!" she yelled, her previous feelings neutralized after what she had said and done horribly wrong. She ran after him and eventually, and she noticed that as he realized she was following him he slowed down a bit, as though unwilling to go on, caught up with him. He hung his head as she intertwined her fingers through his. She faced him, not at all hesitant, and stared directly into his downcast eyes softly placing her hand on his cheek. "I didn't mean that...you know I didn't. So stop sulking and kiss me you fool." He looked away and muttered derisively, "Funny how we're having a fight about you marrying Snivellous. I_ am_ a fool." He paused for a few seconds then whispered, "_A fool in love..._" And he leaned down and kissed her, deeply and for several seconds. They kept kissing for several minutes, only breathing for a second before closing the gap between their mouths again.

"_Argh_...I'm so glad Aphy and Remus are staying for the I.E.M.C. We've obviously proved that we can't be in each other's company too long before either snogging or arguing." Jenny said laughing as she rested her forehead against his, both of them smiling serenely.

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"Aphy! Jen! He sent me another gift! _Another one_! Look at them!" Lily ran, grinning, into the Great hall during breakfast the next morning. She stuck her hands out in front of he, spreading her fingers out wide. Adorning her small hands were silk sky blue gloves.

"Lily, they're _gorgeous_!"

"Those would match your eyes brilliantly Aphy!"

"Jenny! They're Lily's, not mine! So, are they from _him_?" Jenny and Aphrodite regarded Lily with suggestive knowing expression, Jen complete with wriggling eyebrows. Lily laughed outright at them and sat down at the table.

"If you think these are pretty, you should see the rest of it upstairs."

"How many gloves did he get you?"

"No! He got me matching robes, slippers, and a golden locket with a sapphire set in the middle." Jenny gaped at lily, then turned to her right and smacked Sirius in the back of the head.

"OUCH! Jenny, what the bloody heck was that for!"

"How come you don't get me expensive presents!"

"Cause I'm not trying to win you! I've already got you! Not like Prongs over—mph!" For James had just thrown his hand over Sirius' mouth.

"Pardon?"

"Ignore Sirius..." James said nervously laughing, "he hasn't had his pills today." Sirius, whose eyes and nose were only visible, glared at James.

"The card said that he had heard that I was nominated to be one of the delegates and that he wished he was going with me." She sighed dreamily, "He said it was most likely cold so thats why got me the complete robe and all. Oh! I almost forgot, he got me a hat too."

"A hat?"

"Yep! It's really cute...on the whole, if I wear it it'll look like I attend beaubatons. I never thought blue was my color...but I guess it is becoming of me, isn't it?" She said brightly, inspecting her new gloves with a perky smile. James couldn't help beaming.

"So how many gifts does this make?" Aphy asked, reaching for a piece of toast and the marmalade.

"Four."

"No James, Five."

"Nope. The flowers, rose necklace, emerald ring, and now this blue outfit."

"Your forgetting the amethyst necklace."

"I never gave–I mean, what amethyst necklace?"

"The one that Peter tried to steal."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Wormtail, shove off, we're having a conversation here." said Sirius. Peter leaned back, folding his arms with an ugly look on his face.

"Oh, fine, don't talk to me then."

"Thank you..." Jenny whispered, rolling her eyes as she did. Peter glared at her through slits of brown.

"I'm not hungry anymore." and with that he left the table. And when he wasn't in hearing distance Jenny exclaimed, "Finally!"

"Jen, don't be rude...ah what the heck, he was getting on my nerves as well." Just then a brown speckled Owl landed on the table and stuck its leg out towards Lily. She read the name of the sender and an apprehensive clouded look crossed her features. "It's from Mum and Dad..." she muttered, standing up from the table and exiting the Great hall. About two minutes later, she returned squealing, with a huge grin on her face and knocked James to the ground as she jumped up and hugged him. Attempting to climb off of him, she stumbled her way back onto her feet.

"They said yes! They said yes! OH JAMES! THEY SAID YES!" She hugged everyone in the vicinity, even a few disgusted looking Slytherins. James silently thanked Merlin that Snape was not there at present. Lily, grabbing onto Jenny's and Aphrodite's arms just above the elbow pulled them towards the direction of Gryffindor Tower. "You two must help me pack!" was her feeble excuse.

"Oh, Lily, Jenny, I forgot to tell you, your ball gown's arrived this morning. They're on my bed, you mustn't forget _them _in your packing Lily." Aphy stated with a wink.

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HA! I told you Lily would go! And nobody believed me...ok, everyone did cause what would be the point of mentioning it and putting it in a freaking chapter that Dumbledore specifically asked them so why wouldn't she? Oh well, just trying to take up space you know. Like all other authors...ok, I need to stop lying. I'm sorry, I've just eating a whole bag of skittles. The BIG ones.

Tata! And don't forget to review!


	12. Getting to Nuotiamo

1Chapter Twelve: Getting to Nuotiamo

Thanks for all the reviews you guys! I'm finally over a hundred! WOOH!

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"Okay, I think that's it." Lily snapped the buckle to her trunk and straightened a fold in her robe. She took a deep breath. Today was the day that she and James were traveling to the foreign school of Nuotiamo, in Rome, Italy.

"_I've never been to Italy." Lily had said, folding Dumbledore's letter and sticking it in her pocket. James nodded his agreement._

"_Nor I." _

Well, they wouldn't be saying that for long.

"Lily!" a voice yelled from below, in the common room Lily guessed. "What!" she answered back. "You're going to be late!" She recognized the voice as Aphrodite's. Lily's heart skipped a beat.

This was it!

She waved her wand at her bulging trunk and said, as calmly as she could as excitement bubbled inside her, "Locomotor trunk." It followed weightlessly behind her as she skipped down the stairs. What she did not expect was the whole common room to erupt with applause as she, along with James on his staircase, entered the common room. She instantly blushed a deep crimson, enough to give her hair a run for its money, but sighed in relief when she felt James' warm hand envelop hers and wave to everyone with the other one. She did the same, but more shyly. "Come on!" Jenny urged, she laughed as she skipped to the other side of the room to the portrait hole. "Come _on_!" She said more forcefully and her, Lily, James, Remus, Aphrodite, and Sirius ran through the halls, laughing, until they reached the great hall and were amazed to see the entire school there, applauding them as the Gryffindor's had done in the tower. Again, Lily was embarrassed, but nonetheless grinned to the whole of Hogwarts. When she turned to her right, she met two legs balanced on Sirius' shoulders. James was trying to quiet done everyone to make some sort of announcement.

"Everybody! Everybody quiet! SHUT UP YOU LOT, I'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY! Thanks, now, you know that me and Lily are going to Rome, Italy, and that about ten more of you are going to other schools to participate in the I.W.D.G.—"

"I.E.M.C. James."

"Right, thanks Lils, I meant I.E.M.C. Well, I just wanted to say," and here he paused, surveying the crowd with a smirk, "WE'RE GOING TO KICK SOME INTERNATIONAL BUM!" The whole hall erupted into screams and cheers and many people broke out into song of "Hoggy, Woggy, Hogwarts" and hundreds of people clapped Lily and James on the back. Finally, as the two stood before the great oak doors, Lily turned to Aphrodite and Jenny and gave them each a long hug.

"I'm going to miss you more then you think. We're going to be gone for a whole month!"

"Don't worry about it Lils–Oh, Lily, don't cry Lily, you're going to make a scene...Oh merlin!" Aphrodite screamed as she hugged Lily and the two girls burst into tears. The boys regarded them incredulously. Jenny simultaneously smacked each one in the back of the head.

"Can't you see they're having a moment, you gits?"

"Sorry Jen..." they mumbled together with bowed heads and could not see her badly concealed smirk.

"Bye Remus, Bye Sirius." Lily said, giving each a kiss on the cheek. "Bye Lily." They replied.

"Bye Lily..." Jenny said, hugging Lily again and could not help getting tears in her eyes but was neglected of saying anymore as Hogwarts forced the two seventeen year olds out the doors and down to the gates in front of the school. What they saw scared Lily quite a bit.

"Brooms? We're flying all the way to Italy on _BROOMS_! James, _you _were going to be the only one—James, I don't _do _brooms, you know that, I _hate_ heights–!"

"Goodbye Ms. Evans, Goodbye Mr. Potter—" Dumbledore, unceremoniously, shoved the two forward and everyone gasped as James disappeared at the grasp of the brooms handle. Lily, unfortunately, ran headfirst into her hovering broomstick and disappeared with a POP and an "OUCH!"

Darkness, whirling, colors speeding up and mixing; no idea, lost, disoriented shapes flying by, faces, memories, snap-shots, remembering, memories not her own, of people she had never seen before, images unable to fathom in the blink of an eye. It was like whirling through a vortex of pensieves. Lily experienced all this in the nanosecond of confusion before she fell on her back and sucked in a painful almost irretrievable gasp of breath that she had never been more appreciative for in her life.

"I take it your landing didn't go too well, seeing as you're just lying there on the floor." Why did she have to be humiliated in front of James _all the time...?_

"Thank you. You always seem to cheer me up." she smiled at his bark-like laugh and realized his sarcasm wasn't really what cheered her up. _(That was sarcasm if you didn't catch it...oy, you people...)_

Lily regarded the room with badly concealed curiosity and stared in awe at her surroundings. It was a circular room and about ten feet in diameter and was covered with hundreds of plush, cushioned pillows of all shapes, sizes, and colors and a tassel secured in a knot on each corner. There was three windows, each covered in a draping curtain of the deepest royal violet that contrasted mystically with the scarlet walls to create a sort of gypsy feeling. All and all, the room was extremely cozy and private but Lily did not know how on earth she had gotten there.

"James...were those brooms portkeys?" Lily asked tentatively, picking up a pillow and surveying it with interest. "I think these are made out of silk..." she muttered absently to herself.

"Maybe...but we don't usually use expensive items like brooms for portkeys. Usually old junk. Why don't we check the window?" He made his way across the room, the task made more difficult then thought considering the copious amounts of pillows blocking his way, but eventually he made a trail and pulled back the curtain. Light streamed into the room and Lily raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Lils you might want to take a look." She could not see his face and desperately wished she could at that moment. When she looked out the window herself she screamed. Fluffy wisps of white passed by and through holes in the clouds Lily could catch glimpses of cities and hillsides. She snorted in disbelief and shook her head, a maniacal smile on her face nonetheless.

"I knew it was too good to be true..." she laughed ruefully, "James how are we even _here_? Where _is_ here?" Then suddenly, in the east corner of the room, the wall rippled to show the aged face of a man they knew only too well.

"Professor! Where are we? How are you—?"

"It's perfectly all right Ms. Evans." came Dumbledore's smooth voice that sounded almost like it was a recording. "As I'm sure you were wondering, the brooms were not in fact portkeys but they will be used as you near the end of your journey. By performing an extremely difficult and complex amount of magic Professor McGonagall and I were able to produce this means of safe transportation. As you appear right now, you would look to the normal eye like just a pair of unoccupied, moving brooms, were you not cloaked in an invisible shield. As you near Nuotiamo in Rome, however, you will say this: _Commuti alle scope_. You then will be transported to the brooms and fly the rest of the way to the entrance of Nuotiamo on the brooms. Hogwarts is well known for its spectacular Quidditch teams, _hence the brooms_, to symbolize our school. Well, that's it so have fun; you will arrive at Nuotiamo by nightfall as scheduled. Oh, and James–" Dumbledore paused as James regarded him curiously, "Your mother says don't do anything stupid and your father says congratulations." He ignored James' open mouth and red cheeks; Lily noticed the all-too-familiar twinkle in his eye. It caused her to smile and she said, in between snorts and giggles "Goodbye Professor. Tell everyone that me and...James say hello." She raised a skeptical eyebrow at James' embarrassed sputtering at his mother's "insolence" as he worded it. She smacked him on the back of the head and he came out of his muttering, "Bye Dumbledore." The image of the old face wavered and the wall syphoned back into the red wall. Lily clapped her hands together awkwardly. "So...how shall we occupy ourselves?" She asked. He grinned mischievously. He lightly pushed her down on some pillows and attacked her mouth with her, laying his body on top of hers and causing her to giggle at his antics. They snogged for a full twenty minutes before getting tired and laying down in the middle of the floor, James opening the curtains with his wand so that the two could watch the clouds pass by as they reached noon-time. "I'm hungry." Lily stated after she had dozed off in his arms. Her stomach did in fact growl at that very moment. Late afternoon rays of sunlight filtered the room and lit it up in a sort of afternoon glow.

"Oh yeah...wonder where the food is in this place..." James groaned and lifted himself off the floor. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head. He blindly started tapping on walls until, finally, he found a small hidden compartment full of fruits. Well...more he found it accidentally.

"Lily...I don't think there _is _any food here—AHH!" He had leaned against the wall in resignation and had apparently bumped into a small square sized piece of wall that popped out and held many arrays of different colored delectable fruits. Lily's eyes sparkled hungrily.

"_Bon Apatite_?" James stated dubiously and laughed out loud as Lily dove into the fruits like there was no tomorrow.

"Comf twi fum..." Lily said, blushed, then swallowed. "Come and try some." she repeated, less inarticulate.

"If there is anything left." he said amused, smirking at her as she threw a pillow at his head that he easily dodged.

"Stupid Quidditch..." she muttered dramatically in mock disdain. For the next few hours they just talked until, as the last rays of sunlight reached them through the still open window, a sudden beeping sounded from somewhere.

"James, what is that?" Lily sounded a bit anxious.

"Maybe that's the sign that we're supposed to say those magic words."

"Yes, I think your right."

"Well here goes, at the same time I think—"

They paused for about a second before commanding, loud and clear,

"_Commuti alle scope!_" The familiar swishing feeling from before came again and lily, not quite prepared for it, instantly felt a headache explode on the side of her head. She screwed her eyes shut against the pain and light and she materialized lightly onto one of the brooms. _Never again am I opening my eyes during one of those... escapades, _Lily thought for lack of a better word. But the second she had landed on her broom and the wind lashed at her face like a whip the headache dematerialized. But then came along her fear of heights.

"Ahhh...James! I don't like this at all!" James maneuvered closer to her and put his arm reassuringly around her waist. Her mood lightened a bit.

"It's okay Lils, really it is. Just don't think about it. Look, I can see a patch of green between those two clouds."

"James, I do want to get to solid ground as soon as I can, but I'm not tilting this broom one bit. I'll fall off!"

"No you wont." He said firmly and in a no-nonsense way. "You don't have to become completely vertical or anything, just slowly dip forward, the broom will follow your demand. Here, would you like to hold my hand to feel better—" the blood circulation was cut off of his right fingers a nanosecond afterwards. "Lils–Lily! I can't feel my spleen with the way your squeezing my hand like that! Okay, that's better, don't want to ruin our soon-to-be _magnifico _performance!" He bellowed into the wind and sent her a wink.

"Wow James that made no sense at all."

"I'm just talented like that, _sono di destra_?"

"I'm impressed; you've been practicing. At least...I think you have. I don't know a bloody thing of Italian."

"Well...I guess I could—Wait! I think that's it! Lily, look down about Northwest, you see–? There, a bit–" He pointed out a building that took Lily's breath away. As James had said, to the Northwest atop a grand and fertile green hill was a huge building in the shape of a tear drop but had a hollow center where about twenty feet of land was shaded and filled with sand that traveled all the way around the inside center; next to the sand however, which filled the rest of the inside space, was a clear and crystal blue lake.

"Oh, Merlin..." Lily mumbled, absorbing the closely positioned sunlight and the view of the extraordinary Italian school. "Its...It's—"

"Ah man...I forgot to pack my bathing suit!" Lily shook her head at her companion. "Did you bring yours Lils?"

"No, but I'm sure they'll have an extra suit or two."

"Or ten, since I'm sure nobody else brought one." They both laughed. "Shall I land first or you?" James asked after both their laughter had died down.

"Um...I think I should, in fear of just jumping from here so I don't have to endure these winds at this height. I don't know how you can enjoy being suspended a hundred feet above ground going at fifty miles per hour depending on a stick for your safety and support from hurtling to your gruesome death."

"Lily..." James said, like a mother reassuring her child mockingly, "For your information, we are one hundred and fifty feet above the ground." Lily turned a faint shade of green. "Lily, your skin matches your eyes now!"

"Now you are starting to sound like Sirius."

"Nah, Padfoot's vocabulary isn't as advanced as what I just produced there."

"You mean 'your' and 'now?" She replied with a smirk.

"Just land Miss Snob or I shall be forced to join you on your broom and kiss you off." He said in a deep, seductive voice and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't you dare!" She squealed as he launched his broom in her direction and she swivelled out of harm. "And now you're _really _starting to sound like Sirius!" She leaned forward on her broom so that it obeyed her unspoken command to collect speed. Her robes billowed around her and for the first time she noticed an enormous crowd of people below her, seemingly at the entrance of the school. "James!" she bellowed behind her into the wind and heard his shout back "Yeah?" "We have company!" She shouted, not really needing to as he appeared at her side. "Wow...she's cute!" He yelled at her over the rush of wind in his ears. She rolled her eyes, regretting it as the wind hit the white of her eyes and caused them to water; she blinked and replied, in an equally loud voice, "James, you cant even see her face!" "Yes I can." He said back and gave her a loving look. She punched him playfully.

"How is it you can fly a hundred feet off the ground and be charming at the same time?"

"I'm just talented like that." He shrugged with a lopsided smile that made her stomach flutter at how adorable he looked.

"Oh, James, you will be the death of me..."

"That's what my mum says all the time. Now, lets make our entrance as impressive as possible."

"I think I'll just ride side-saddle and land gracefully. You go do a flip or something." she said nonchalantly waving her hand.

"As you wish." He whispered, but she heard him nonetheless. He zoomed away and made a spectacular dive, awing the crowd below them into applause. Again, Lily rode her eyes and put on a dazzling smile and she flipped her right leg over and landed onto a stone circle in the middle of the grassy lawn, stepping lightly to the ground as if she were a feather. James circled her twice before jumping off his broom and throwing a hand around Lily's shoulders, throwing on his suave lop-sided grin. They walked over to the crowd and in the front stood a man who looked to be middle-aged but gave the air of a young spirited man, with curly black hair and a handsome face. He eagerly made his way over to them and put a hand out for both to shake.

"Hello a, My name is a Palo Donatelli and I am a the headmaster of a the school here called Nuotiamo. Welcome! What are your names?"

"Hello Headmaster Donatelli. Made name is James Potter and this is Lily Evans." Said James before Lily could utter a word. She however added, "We come from the British school of Hogwarts. We are very eager to meet everybody, including your students and other delegates." Her voice was formal and she realized this a second later, giggling at herself. "I'm sorry if I sound a bit rehearsed because, well, I am!" This caused the headmaster to laugh.

"I'm a sure we will be getting along a." he said, his booming, contagious laugh causing Lily to smile. "Come a, meet everyone!"

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I'm SO sorry its taken so long to update but I've been mucho busy with school and church and family and GAH! So, I hope you like this chapter! It will be LOADS of fun writing Italian accents, I even have to talk with an Italian accent for a skit at school so, yeah I bet you're all just LAUGHING your freaking white socks off at me and...um...well, okay I'm just gonna stop typing since I have a donut waiting for me.

CIAO!

Denierure


	13. Introductions to IEMC members

1Hello! You guys get ready for lucky chapter number 13!

13 is my lucky number

Au Revior! Enjoy!

Denierure

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"So, Sig.na Lily, tomorrow is a the day a of the celebrazioni. You and a Mister James are a ready, si?"

"Yes, Headmaster Donatelli, we've thoroughly practiced our...skit. Will there be a lot of space to perform?"

"Yes, you will walk down a long stretch of carpet then at the end will be a stage for you to perform. I take it your performance has something to do with brooms?" He regarded her with a curious eye but all she did was give him a 'nice-try' smile. He chuckled. The two had almost forgotten James, who walked few yards behind them, enjoying surveying the vast expanse of the cream-colored hallways which had long intervals filled with fountains, windows placed high up and their inhabitants sealed away with curtains, and staircases traveling deeply and steeply into the walls to lead to who-knows-where.

"This place is amazing!" James called to them, causing them to turn around. "Why are there windows though? What are they for?"

"We are in what we call the 'main hallway' which has staircases that branch off, in this side of the school, to the students dormitories. We've arranged for the 'I.E.M.C. Suit', as we've come to call it, to be readied for your arrival. Already the delegates from Vietnam, America, Spain, Germany, Poland and Greece have arrived. I know for a fact that you will all get along. And while on that subject I would like to stress the fact that this school is still fairly new, after the explosion of the school before us, so please do not vandalize your room and try your best to get along with everyone else. Can you both do that?"

"Absolutely." Lily said with an evil smile as she pulled James to them by his ear from the spot where he was scratching at a silver vase. "Don't worry. I wont hesitate to whoop him if he attempts anything that would cause our suspension." She said the last words through gritted teeth and he smiled weekly. Donatelli smiled.

"Thank you. Your room, shared by the other delegates, is just up this staircase." They followed him up one staircase, that twisted around, finally spiraling, and they stopped at a door. The Headmaster knocked twice and waited. Lily sucked in her breath, a little nervous, and watched the door open slowly.

It was opened by a girl, taller then lily but shorter then James, with long dirty blonde hair that fell midway down her back in a bit of a wave. She was wearing a long sleeved light blue shirt that hugged her curves and tight blue jeans with holes in the knees. She had kind dark blue eyes and her face lit up in an excited smile at their entrance.

"Are you from Ireland?" She asked in a slightly Polish partly American voice. Lily, a bit surprised from the unexpected question, was at a loss for words and could only shake her head. The girl pouted and Lily noticed she was pretty even when she frowned.

"Sorry." she said, "You just look so Irish and I'm part Irish but I've never met anyone from Ireland, except grandfather but—"

"Danielle!" yelled a boy from across the room, who jogged up to her and, from behind, wrapped his arms around her shoulders gave the visitors a crooked grin and said, "Sorry about her. She tends to ramble when she's excited." Danielle, because he was unintentionally pinning her arms to her side, blew a stray clump of bangs from her face and smiled weakly at them.

"Yes, I'm sorry. My Name is Danielle Gorman. This is Nathaniel Cunningham. We're from Poland. We'll introduce you to everyone." At the far side of the room, about a foot away from the wall, there was a black leather couch that was in the shape of an 'L' and took up two walls space. On the couch, spread out, was ten people. All of them were dressed differently but had kind, interested smiles.

"Okay...let's see if I can remember everyone's name. That's Anatha. She's from Greece." She pointed to a girl who had shoulder length brown hair that was wavy. Her nose was pointed and she had chocolate brown eyes that stared with interest at Lily's own green ones. "I've always been interested with Great Britain. I think its fantastic." she commented, playing with the black lace on her skirt shyly.

"The boy next to her is Alexander. Now this will be tricky. I've been told that we have two Alexanders. One is the one before you and the other is him over there, his name is Alex Cortes. He's from Spain. There's also Alexandra from France, and Alexandria from Egypt. It will become a bit confusing but after you get to know them it should become easier. I've only been here since this morning and already I can tell apart those who are already here. Okay, so Alex, like I said, is from Spain and so is Derrin. Tori, her whole name is Victoria, and Chris which is short for...I don't know are from Vietnam. Uh...let me see, ah! Yes, Kaleigh and Ian are from Germany, and Patricia and Matthew are from America. That's everyone isn't it?"

"Yes Danielle, it's everybody!" Nathan teased. She mock glared at him but winked at Lily nonetheless.

"Oh, Shove off Nat." she said, _shoving_ him. He rolled his eyes and went to sit by Ian and Kaleigh, engaging them in conversation about strudel.

"So...how long have you and Nathan been dating?" Lily asked. Danielle's eyebrows shot up.

"We aren't dating." She said, quick enough for Lily to notice.

"Oh? I couldn't tell." She began to strut away until Danielle grabbed her arm. Lily, hesitantly to irritate the girl, turned around and asked, "Then how long have you liked him?" The girl stopped and pulled Lily to the other side of the room, leaving James to feebly look around.

"Hey! British boy! Come sit by us, I have some questions." James was relieved to be included and went to sit by Alex Cortez from Spain. Danielle turned to Lily and motioned for them to sit in the windowsill. Remembering a rainy afternoon, Lily complied and regarded the blonde with curiosity.

"Okay," she started hesitantly, "I've known Nat since my first year but we didn't become friends until my fourth year. I've had a crush on him since but all he cares about is being my friend." She huffed and sat back against the cream-colored wall, pouting. Lily still thought she was beautiful even when she pouted.

"I think I can relate. Except I was in Nathan's shoes." And she told Danielle the story about how she and James got together, how he had had an interesting fascination with her from the time of the sorting hat and how he struggled through the years to get her attention and finally had only a few months previous.

"Oh...you poor thing. In the dark the whole time." as she unexpectedly hugged Danielle. Lily wondered why everything about this girl seemed perfect. Even her hug was perfect! Except her problem...

"Here, now that we've become friends why don't you help me get to know the others. Chris is pretty cute." she whispered and that set them of into fits of involuntary giggles. Just as they had seated themselfs Headmaster Donatelli knocked twice then opened the door himself.

"I shall trust you all to be completely dressed when I send my messengers to fetch you." They all laughed and he ushered eight more people into the room. "This is Alexandra and Philip from France. This is Alexandr_i_a and Mikkel from Egypt. This is Lise and Jonathon from Australia. This is Amber and Bobbi from Mexico. And this is Sakura and Kenji from Japan. Have fun and introduce everyone again Danielle, if you will, arrivederci!"

"Oh boy..." Danielle muttered then put on a big smile. "Okay everyone! This is..."

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"James, I've made so many friends today! Me and Danielle got especially close, did you know she has a crush on Nathan? But he doesn't know it, which is a shame because they would be so cute together, and—" James covered her mouth with his hand.

"Lily! Stop! Apparently the girls starting to rub off on you. You're babbling!"

"Yes, but you'll still love me even if I do babble, right?" She said, leaning seductively close to him.

"Yes, and don't you ever forget that." And he kissed her.

"Mmm...I love you James...but lets wait until we're married." She removed his hand from where it had snuck up her shirt and attempted to grab her chest. "Please?"

"I will resist my manly urges if it'll please you. Goodnight Lils." He laid down on his bed, folding his arms under his head. Lily settled next to him and snuggled into his chest, surprising him.

"Goodnight Mr. Potter. I love you." she whispered.

"I love you too. But your making it quite much harder then before by being this close. I wont be able to resist those manly urges if you keep this up, you know."

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Okay, here's a character definition...thing. It'll describe all the delegates appearances and some of their likes, dislikes, hobbies, you know, that stuff I hate reading fics where the author doesn't describe characters appearances cause then I make up that the person has blonde hair and then later in the fic it says "she tossed her brown hair over her shoulder" or something like that and I'm like "huh?" So yeah, that's why I'm doing this. And I want EVERYONE to know that my descriptions have been deleted TWICE where I had like thirty descriptions done. I was seriously considering quitting fanfiction because I had spent probably three or four hours on both times they were lost. You better like these cause I slaved over them.

**Danielle**- Long dirty blonde hair to mid back. Dark blue eyes. Average height. Very curvy. Very good at singing. Loves to read. Always looks pretty. _Polish_

**Nathan**- Dark brown, almost black hair. Brown eyes. Tall. Always wears dark pants but bright shirts. Very good at singing. Has muscles but is the studious type. Very flirty. _Polish_

**Anatha**- brown wavy hair, shoulder length. Brown eyes. Absolutely loves to read. Would rather read then date (LOL). Tall. Doesn't like bright colors. Very intelligent. _Greece_

**Alexander**- curly brown hair. Brown eyes. Very charming personality. Definitely a flirter. Towers over everyone in height. _Greece_

**Alex (Cortez)**- Shoulder length black curly hair. Black eyes. Very crazy and fun to be around. When serious people almost don't think its him talking. Very good at cheering people up. _Spain_

**Derrin**- Curly brown hair with high lights. Amber eyes. Always knows what's wrong with people or, at least, is very good at guessing. _Spain_

**Tori**- Straight, shoulder length, black hair. Black eyes. Sort of on the short side. Crazy and fun. Kind of like Alex Cortez. _Vietnam_

**Chris**- Blonde. Blue eyes. Tall and bulky. Used to live in America until he was five then moved to Vietnam for his fathers work. Sort of anti-social. Doesn't like Danielle's outgoing attitude. _Vietnam_

**Kaleigh**- straight golden blonde hair that goes a few inches past her shoulders. Hazel eyes that turn pear green when crying. Very perky and funny. Tries to make the best of the situation, no matter how bleak. _Germany_

**Ian**- Blonde curly hair. Blue eyes. Is a genius to the point of an idiot. Is Kaleigh's boyfriend. Is a FLAMING pervert, which distresses Kaleigh. _Germany_

**Patricia (Tricia)**- Short flipped out brown hair. Green eyes. Black square glasses. Very intelligent. A little loopy. _America_

**Matthew (Matt)**- Curly blonde hair that is a little longish. Dark blue eyes. VERY tall. Is 1/4'th veela. _America_

**Alexandra (Lexie)**- light blonde hair that is spiked up and styled short like a boy's hair cut. Light blue eyes. Doesn't take anyone's CRAP. Is a very get-to-the point type of person. Can usually be wild and wears biker and unique clothing. 3/4's veela. _France_

**Philip**- strait light brown hair; bangs fall into his left eye. Green eyes. Constantly flings his bangs out of his face (is used to it). A sweet-talker but is a genuinly nice person. _France_

**Alexandria**- Long, strait, black hair. Gold eyes. Wears a solid gold band across her forehead with an oval peridot stone in the middle that contains healing powers. _Egypt_

**Mikkel**- Spiky black hair, hazel eyes. Tall and skinny. Is immediately fascinated with Lise and her accent. Wears a ring around his arm just under his shoulder that is made of pure gold and has a ruby stone set in it. Unbeknownst to everyone, he gives the arm bracelet to Lise as a gift to show he likes her and kind of stalks her the entire time they are in Italy. Lise likes him but is a little freaked out by his actions towards her. _Egypt_

**Lise**- Shoulder length high lighted blonde hair. Dark blue Asian eyes (isn't Asian. Her eyes are just a little slanted.) Likes to speak her mind and talks A LOT. Is actually a year older then everyone else because she took her real seventh year off to write her book "Psychology and Psycho's" Her IQ is very high and close to the genius level. Is being stalked by Mikkel. _Australia_

**Jonathon**- Short jet black hair. Sweet brown eyes. Very naturally tanned. Kind of slow and dumb witted until he starts dueling. _Australia_

**Amber**- Long, very full in volume dirty blonde hair. Brown eyes. Favorite phrase in a bad situation is "Oh poop." Isn't very tanned because she's afraid she'll get skin cancer so she doesn't look Mexican. _Mexico_

**Bobbi**-Black spiky hair. Brown eyes. Very flirty. Is told he has an "adorable smile". Comes to know Lise and Danielle like they are his sisters. _Mexico_

**Sakura**- Bright pink hair; has two hot pink buns on the back of her head. Has magenta colored (artificially) eyes. Crazy and fun. Plays drums. Is Kenji's twin sister. Natural hair and eye color is black and green, like Kenji's. _Japan_

**Kenji**- Has a black faux hawk with a lime green stripe down the middle of it. Has green eyes. Plays guitar which, coincidentally, is black with a green stripe on it. Is Sakura's twin brother. _Japan_

Okay I think that's everybody so far. There will be more but I'll just either put their descriptions in the story or wont put them in at all. I'm a VERY lazy person (if you haven't noticed in my lack of updating in a proffered deadline) so I cant make any guarantees. Adios Muchacho's!

Danielle I'm not really signing my name as Denierure anymore. I've begun to prefer using my god-given name.


	14. A Glittering Performance

Chapter 14

Hey guys...I'm writing this heading way before I'll update (believe me, I know) because I have the attention span of a butterfly.

Ugh...pray for me!

Enjoy! Thanks for all the reviews! I'm hoping to make it one fifty! LETS DO IT!!!

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_Dear Aphy and Jen,_

_HELLO! Lils is asleep right now so I thought it would be safe enough to write you two. I have an idea of a gift but I just wanted to know, what's Lily's favorite dog? Do either of you have a picture of Lily and her dog? Is her favorite type of dog the one she owns? Write back!_

_James_

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Lily stretched, then yawned. She blinked her eyes open and screamed. James shot out of his bed, wide awake, furiously rubbing his eyes.

"Lily, what is it? What's wrong?" She wordlessly pointed to the thirty or so owls perched on various bed posts and drawer handles. They were small and big, brown and white, eagle and snowy, and all were carrying a parcel.

"What the bloody Merlin is this?" said Lily, staring incredulously at each bird. James cast an uneasy glance at Lily and cleared his throat. She laid a hand delicately across her chest and breathed deeply.

"Lily...they're just owls. I know you aren't afraid of owls." _I_ _hope_, James thought wearily.

"No, I'm not." James breathed out, "Its just my adrenaline's pumping now...I'm ok." She got up from her bed and made her way to the nearest owl. She reached toward it and, the small brown owl obliging, stuck its leg out. Lily untied the parcel. She pulled the knot out of the string and unwrapped the parcel.

"It's...puzzle pieces?" Lily put one of them out in front of her to look at. James swallowed a gulp and said, his voice cracking slightly, "Sure is a lot of owls..."

"Yeah..." Lily mumbled, squinting at the puzzle piece. "It looks like...well its mostly green with a spot of brown...Hm. Wait! Do you think there's more puzzle pieces in the other packages?" she asked excitedly. James shrugged. Lily sped around the room, opening each little present and squealing at the site of each puzzle piece. After a few minutes, there was a hefty pile of puzzle pieces in the middle of her bed. When she got to the last one though, there wasn't a puzzle piece, but a small message. She read it to herself then smiled. James almost asked, "Do you like it?" then remembered himself and instead asked, "Do you-uh-wanna tell me what it says?"

"It says...'Dear Lily, When piecing together all the love I have for you, the puzzle would probably have an infinite amount of pieces...I thought about getting you a puzzle with that many pieces, but since the number is so grand, I figured one hundred would have to do. Hope you like the picture. Your Secret Admirer.' Aw! How sweet...Oh! Let's put the puzzle together, James! Come and help me." She jumped on her bed, gasped as the pieces jumped too, then giggled and looked for the edge pieces. In no time at all she had pieced every edge piece to its partners and began to fill in the middle.

After a while she noticed James staring at her, unmoving. "Well, are you going to sit there like a baboon and wait out the millennium or are you going to help me?" She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest with a confused smile. He chuckled and leaned over, kissing her. Her arms unfolded from her chest and instead wove their way through his hair, the puzzle temporarily forgotten on the bed. Her back arched until he laid her down on the bed and began kissing her more thoroughly. Her hands gently placed on his chest and a slight push broke his lips away from her. He looked into her eyes.

"Too fast?" he asked. She raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Merlin no...I just really want to finish the puzzle. I've only put together twenty pieces or so."

"So you'd rather do a puzzle then snog me?"

"Maybe." She said, smiling and biting her bottom lip. He grinned his lop-sided grin that she loved.

"I don't think so." He attacked her mouth with his again, his hand cupping her cheek. "Don't be daft...I know you can't resist me." She broke away from his kissing and put her hands on her hips. He raised himself on one elbow. She looked ready to retort very nastily to his remark but her messed up hair, untucked shirt, and smeared makeup from the day before took away some of the intimidation in her stare.

"James Potter I don't think I want to be kissing you if you are in an arrogant mood this morning."

"Okay! Okay! I'll stop." He grinned mischievously up into her face and couldn't resist adding, "Would you like some help with that puzzle of yours, m'lady?" Her mouth opened in amused outrage. She grabbed a pillow and smacked him on the head with it.

"You! Mr. Potter are an impossible nuisance. You will be no help as we both know deep down. You can't keep your lips from mine for five minutes." She grinned, knowing he wouldn't back down from her challenge. He looked to be battling with himself, part of himself wanting to kiss her now and the other part not wanting to lose to her.

"Okay, I take your bet."

"I didn't bet you."

"If I win," he ignored her, "this bet, then you sleep in my bed. But if you win–"

"Then you have to use my body soap tomorrow morning in your shower."

"What?! But, but then, I'll...Holy Cricket! I'll smell like a girl!"

"Exactly." Lily smiled evilly. "Personally, I think cherry blossom suits you." She grinned at his rapidly opening mouth. She swooped in and kissed him quickly. "Hey!" He yelled, pulling away, "that doesn't count! _You _kissed _me_."

"Your point being...?"

"Lily!" he whined, "that doesn't count!" he said again, with his puppy dog look sliding slyly onto his face. She couldn't resist.

"Oh! Fine, I guess. Now help me." She picked up a piece and help it up to another, frowning and making a "hmmm..." sound, then shook her head and set one of the pieces down. She scooted so close to James that their knee's were touching and Lily leaned towards her boyfriend, an innocent look on her face. "James..." She started, placing her hand on his thigh, not knowing that butterfly's began to swarm in his stomach, and started to rub it back and forth. "What does this piece look like?" He gulped and shook his head, indicating that he didn't know. Lily tilted her head, made the same "hmmm..." sound as before and set it down next to another on the bed. "Oh...save me lady, you will be the death of me." James whispered huskily and immediately began kissing her very forcibly. Lily grinned to his mouth and pulled away. He was leaning over her again and had a hungry look in his eyes. "Let's finish the puzzle later." she whispered. She sniffed twice with her nose and said, with a widening grin, "I think I smell cherry blossoms, James."

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"Tonight we do each presentation of our school," Lily stated matter-of-factly and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. She was walking between Danielle and Boy Alex (as they had begun to call him, though he didn't mind) and on the ends were James and Tricia. Danielle smiled and giggled excitedly.

"Just wait until you see what Nathan and I have in store for you! It will be amazing!" Just then, Lexie and Philip ran up to the group and all exchanged Hello's and Good Morning's.

" 'Ello eve'yone. I am 'oping zey 'ave zose zings 'ou call 'scones'?" Lexie said. The other's laughed and nodded.

"My favorite's are the orange glazed raspberry ones. They're delicious." Danielle sighed and closed her eyes, picturing the tasty treat in her mind. Lily grinned and turned to Nathan; she whispered something in his ear, that the others didn't notice because they were listening to a blown up cauldron story by Philip, and he grinned back at her. He crept to the other end of the group and stood quietly behind Danielle, when suddenly his hands shot out and began to tickle her sides. She let out a blood-curdling screech, scaring the magic out of everyone in the hallway. She whipped around, saw it was Nathan, who began to run away, and let out a battle cry before jumping onto his back, piggyback style.

"You bum! You completely evil BUM! Now you have to carry me all the way to the Dining Hall!" She commanded, thumping him several times on the head. He grinned a lop-sided grin and hitched her farther up his back because she was beginning to slip off. "Yes, your Majesty." And so they walked, Danielle on Nathan's back, the rest comfortably walking on the ground while Danielle kept her fist in the air, shouting "Onward, soldiers!".

When they reached the Dining Hall, each was astonished at the enormity of it. It was filled with a homey glow and laughter and chatter took up the silence. The room consisted of, instead of four long tables, thousands of smaller, four seater booths. Lily smiled with fascination. She had never seen anything like it before. The eight I.E.M.C. Representatives pushed two tables together and sat down, beginning their morning feast.

"So, Danielle, are you going to give us any clue's as to your performance that will take place this evening?" Lily asked. Danielle opened her mouth to reply but Nathan cut her off with a "Nope, it's a surprise." Danielle glared at him.

"I was going to say that, you know."

"Yes but I can never take any chances with you. Regardless of your being cute you couldn't keep a secret to save your life."

"I'm flattered by the compliment but a little distressed at the censure you say. I am cute, you're right, _and_ I could keep a secret. In fact, I'm keeping one right now." She said, picked her fork up daintily and smiling knowingly at Lily, who returned the gesture. In a matter of seconds Nathan had crawled under the table and squeezed himself between the two girls. He began to tickle Danielle again yelling "Tell me! Tell me! What deep dark secrets doth the lady keep all to herself?"

"I..I cant...(giggle)...tell you! Stop! Please! I HATE BEING TICKLED!!!" Everyone at the table was laughing hysterically by now. Lily smiled at her new friends here then gave James a silent grin. She was happy to be here.

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"Um, Lily, could you help me with the ties in the back?" Danielle asked from her side of the room.

The girls were all in the huge bathroom they shared that held twelve sinks, showers, and toilets, six on each side of the room with a huge amount of space in the middle. The middle of the floor had a beautifully decorated rug, woven with many complimentary colors, and was soft and comfortable. There were bean bag chairs and pillows scattered everywhere, since the girls had all made sure they would all become fast friends the night before, and that the bathroom was the only place they could all fit and not be bothered by the boys. At this moment, the room was full of noises: frustrated groans at rips and loose ends, the clamping of curling irons and straighteners, and frantic requests for help, like the one Danielle had just made of Lily. Lily set down her brush and immediately came over.

"Oh! Danielle! Your costume! It's...beautiful!" She leaned her head close to Danielle's and looked at her in the mirror parallel to them. She smiled as she whispered, "You're really going to impress Nathan!" Danielle turned glum eyes on her.

"He's already seen it and he never said anything..."

"We're you wearing it when he saw it?" Lily asked indignantly, tired of Danielle degrading herself.

"Well, no, but--"

"No 'but's'! You look absolutely _gorgeous_!" And she did. The dress was a sea foam green and white; the sleeves were long and draping and sea foam green, the torso was white and accented her somewhat large chest nicely, but still modestly, and continued to be white all the way down to the flowing skirt but with a sheer, floral design in sea foam green over the white silk.

"Don't stand there all modestly Lily! You yourself look beautiful! The red and gold makes your hair flash all prettily." Lily's dress had a knee-length somewhat puffy skirt with gold vertical stripes and gold lace sticking purposely out under it, a red torso with a gold shawl wrapped around her arms, and gold spaghetti straps, roughly the size of three fingers holding it all up; and all of it was made in a sheer, silky material.

"Danielle! You look so much more prettier then me! I just love your hair!" Danielle's hair had been curled and pined up, with the curls falling everywhere and framing her face very prettily. Deni smiled evilly. Lily backed away. Danielle laughed.

"Silly! Come here, I'm gonna do your hair!"

"Should I be worried?"

"You were just complimenting my hair a few _seconds_ ago!"

"Point taken...if you can make my hair as nice as yours I'll be happy." Ten minutes later, she was surprised but appreciative as she stared, in awe, at the curls arranged on top in a French Braid style but ending in a knot at the nape of her neck then spilling out under that.

"Danielle! Thank you! I love it so much!" Danielle scoffed.

"At least you have a boyfriend to compliment you..."

"We'll see." They giggled and took each others' hand. "Good luck!" They yelled to everyone as they ran, grinning, out of the room, stopping only once to give hands to Kaleigh while she was pinning up her hair. They ran to the top of the stairs and stopped, giving each other an encouraging smile.

"Me first or you?" Lily asked. Danielle bit her lip, thinking if she wanted everyone to stare at her or to come after another beautiful girl. She was going to take her chances with the latter. "You first." She said, gently shoving Lily forward.

Lily took a deep breath. "Okay...wish me luck!" She squealed squeezing Danielle's hands. She scoffed again.

"What do you need luck for? You look beautiful." Lily's eyes softened and she squeezed Daniele's hands again.

"You wonderful to me. Thank you for being a great friend the last...twenty one hours."

Danielle laughed, saying, "Go on! Knock 'em dead, girl!"

(Wow that sounds corny)

Lily walked slowly down the stairs. When she was about halfway down, she heard Boy Alex yell, "GIRLS! What's taking so long!" He came to the bottom of the steps and stopped in his tracks. Another of the boys (Lily assumed they were all in the common room because of the deep buzzing chatter that reached her ears) yelled something along the lines of, "They're probably just putting on all their makeup! You know girls..." but Alex did not hear him. He just kept staring at Lily. She pulled her gold shawl tighter around her arms, feeling suddenly self-conscience while the Spanish boy gawked at her.

"James--" he finally croaked, and Lily heard footprints, "You are so lucky—I wish I was dating you Lily," Just then, Lily resuming her way down, James came to stand next to Alex and dropped his mouth. Lily smiled; it was easier to be comfortable around James then Alex, though he was a doll, but not the man whom she was in love with.

"Lily, how could you?" James said, feigning disappointment. Lily instantly looked saddened and discouraged. _I spent so much time looking this way and he doesn't like it?_ Tears threatened to spill when James cheekily said "None of the other girls are even going to be noticed with you being in the room! How utterly mean Lily, I mean, I thought I was dating a sweet, nice little girl."

Lily sucked all the sadness back into her as joy took over. She chokingly replied, "James Potter, I'm going to kill you if you make me cry and mess up my makeup." He held his hand out to her as she came down the last few steps. She took it as a radiant smile spread across her face.

"James you lucky--" but Alex didn't finish his sentence when Lily gave him an exasperated look. He held up his hands in a defeated gesture and walked away, all the while muttering things like _"taking away my manly pride..." _and_ "how am I supposed to be superior and dignified with that gorgeous girl around...?"_ Lily smiled at his retreating figure then looked up into James' eyes. He leaned his head down slowly and gave her a long, loving kiss. Afterwards, he laid his forehead against hes and they both closed their eyes and sighed, regardless of all the eyes fixed on them.

"I love you Lils...so much...and you look so beautiful." He said, opening his eyes partway to look into Lily's. She looked up at him appreciatively.

"Thanks..." then she turned her head for a voice had faintly called her name. She looked up the stairs and saw Danielle's worried head poking around.

"Lily! Would you get Nathan's attention for me! Just don't make it too obvious, but I want to show off--"

"NATHAN!"

"Oh dearie..." Danielle muttered as Nathan appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"You needed me?" Lily jerked her head in Danielle's direction and Nathan looked up at his partner. He smiled (see, cause he still cant see her body, just her head) and motioned for her to come down.

"Danielle! Why are you standing up there! Come on down!" Danielle gulped and smiled and came completely into view. She walked regally down the stairs, slowly, one at a time, letting Nathan take it all in—and that's just what he did. He watched her lithe and beautiful body come closer, could see the outline of her legs against the dress slide back and forth with each step...her tanned shoulders were held back by her posture and he saw them roll with her movement, gracefully and somewhat seductively...he saw the curve of her chest jut out by the way the dress held it up and he gulped.

_Get your mind out of the gutter Nathan!_ He thought desperately. She came to the bottom and looked up at him, her mouth slightly parted and her breath tickling his throat. _Oh my..._he thought, gulping, staring down at the girl he had regarded as only a friend until this moment, where she seemed the epitome of his desires.

Nathan cleared his throat awkwardly and uncomfortably, wondering why he couldn't control his sudden hormone attack. Many different feelings rose to his chest and he blushed a bright red. Feeling stupid and awkward he did the only thing he could think of; he offered his arm wordlessly. She took it, the same. He took her to the door and they exited first and alone. Lily and James watched all this happen with big smiles.

"I hope they don't do anything dirty before the show...that'll mess up Danielle's hair." Lily swatted his arm playfully, whispering, "hypocrite..." he laughed and kissed her forehead lovingly.

Nathan walked slowly down the dark hallway with Danielle. It was lit by a few candles, casting the whole space in a romantic glow, but Nathan was feeling far from romantic, though he suddenly wished he didn't. He truthfully felt awkward and clumsy and was still blushing brightly. Danielle noticed this, along with her own red face. She bit her lip, forgetting about how tediously and carefully she had applied her lip gloss. If there was one pet peeve Danielle Gorman had...

...IT WAS AWKWARD SILENCES!!!

_So, what to do...what to say..._Danielle thought bleakly. _His family! I'll ask about them!_

"So...how's your family been...since the summer, I mean!" He made a noise sort of like a grunt in the back of his throat before answering.

"They're doing well...um, Gabby just got accepted into the Ministry into the Department of Law Enforcement...I guess all those years of yelling and torturing us has finally paid off for her." Danielle laughed weakly at this. Nathan chanced a sidelong glance at her and sucked in his breath sharply. Just then the light from a nearby candle cast a luminescent glow on her face, making him want to kiss her so bad right on the spot.

"Good grief," he squeaked. Danielle whipped around in his direction.

"What?" She asked frighteningly. He held up a hand.

"Um, nothing, I was just—well you see, uh—oh this wont do!"

"Uh, what wont do exactly?" By then they had both stopped and Danielle was facing him, but he was looking everywhere _but_ at her.

"You being positively alluring at the moment, that's what wont do." Danielle gasped slightly and began to smile. _Finally, he notices! Uh-oh! What if he'll only notice me when I'm in a drop-dead gorgeous ball gown?!_

"Uh...I promise to notice you, no matter what you're wearing." He said uncomfortably. _GAH!!! DID I JUST THINK THAT ALOUD?!_ Danielle was about to have a heart attack from all the nervous tension in the room.

"Oh my gosh..." she began to laugh incredulously. "We're so pathetic. I'm sorry about how I look, I wont go out as much, uh, next time."

"Oh, no, no, no, no! I think you look...very beautiful." He said quietly, at a loss for words for the first time in his life. He looked deep into her eyes and begin to think about the last few years he had shared with Danielle...all the fun times during Charms (her favorite, he was surprised to remember her saying one day)_ And I've been only wanted to be in her company above others' who I thought were closer...Oh...I've fallen in love with Danielle!_

"I—I beg your pardon?"

_AH!!! I just said that out loud!_ Nathan thought as he frantically began to speak.

"I'm sorry! I-I-I am, uh, just, well, to tell you the truth I'm thinking aloud and that probably isn't the best thing to do with the things that I'm think--" But he didn't finish his sentence as Danielle stood on her tip-toes and kissed him. He stood, shocked for a moment, then gave in, even allowing himself to wrap an arm around her waist to pull her closer. After a few moments had gone by in this fashion they broke apart, breathing heavily but grinning from ear to ear. Danielle threw her arms around his neck and he spun her around.

"I've been waiting so long for this!" she squealed happily. He set her down with a soft 'thump'.

"You have?"

"Yes! I've been trying to send inconspicuous signals for a while now, but..."

"Wha-?! And I haven't noticed? Well, I suppose we shall just have to make up for lost time then, eh?" She giggled as he swooped for another willing kiss. Then suddenly she shoved him away. He gave her a hurt look.

"Don't look at me that way! Do you _know_ how long it took me to get my lip gloss _just_ right?"

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a _darn_."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So...I saw you and Nathan as James and I entered the hallway. I hope we didn't disturb the two of you?"

The delegates were all lined up, in alphabetical order by the name of their country, behind a red curtain, all dressed in their extraordinary and colorful attire. Lily glanced around at everyone, smiling and waving and giving thumbs up to them all. They stood, quivering, as they listened to Headmaster Donatelli introduce them, the organization, and stated how much fun they would be having in the course of the evening.

"Please welcome our guests!" He called to the crowd and the curtain opened. The girls took the boys' arms put on big fake smiles to cover their nervousness. They each took a seat in the chairs provided in the front row. Everyone settled down and quieted as the Headmaster continued.

"First performing will be our delegates from America, Patricia and Matthew, then the delegates from Australia, Lise and Jonathon, then the delegates from Egypt, Alexandria and Mikkel, and I will announce the rest when the time comes. But for now I'd like you all to give a warm welcome for Patricia and Matthew!" Applause ensued.

"Oh! Wish us luck!" Patricia squealed before she took Matthew's arm. Lily admired her velvet blue gown as the two made their way up red carpeted stairs and onto the stage.

They began with a pretty sort of dance and the whole night passed by in a flash of color and music before Lily's eyes. After a half hour, it was Lily's and James turn. They were announced and Lily stood up, taking James' offered arm. When she passed by Danielle in the row she grabbed at her friends hand and squeezed it; Danielle squeezed it back and gave her a big smile. Lily let go and walked up the stairs, and onto the stage, stopping in the middle as James walked off a bit to the side. Everyone's eyes were on Lily, so no one noticed James' receding back until he came back, holding a broom. Lily took out her wand and gently waved it. A bright streak of sparkling red made a wavy line in the air, as the wake of her wand. James watched with a smile as the crowd stared, eager and anxious, until Lily did it again, this time making a blue streak right where the red one had previously been. The crowd held their breath; James mounted his broom, muttering a quick spell under his breath. Then Lily threw both her arms in the air, holding her wand still and shot out a rainbow of sparkles. _That's my cue_, James thought in the split second before kicking hard off the ground and zooming into the air, circling the rainbow pillar and making a golden spiral from the sparkles coming out the end of his broom. The audience clapped madly as James continued to zoom around, making different designs from the end of his broom and while Lily continued to shoot out different colors. After about five minutes of this, Lily began to shoot a different color into each row in the crowd. The streak of glittery light would dissolve and little presents would rain down on people; rings, bracelets, other little trinkets, all bearing the Hogwarts crest. They concluded with James doing a Wonski Feint, scaring the entire crowd, then he pulled up, jumped off, and landed with a bow beside Lily.

Lily could barely hear her own laughter over the deafening roar of the crowd as they screamed approval and applauded James and herself to no end, until they left the stage and Headmaster Donatelli introduced the next couple to perform. Lily watched the rest of the acts, grinning when Danielle and Nathan's turn came up and saw them holding hands on the way to the stage and while they performed; They sang a duet in when colors flew out of each other's mouths' and danced while they did it. It was truly amazing and lily watched on in awe.

At the conclusion of the evening, Headmaster Donatelli gave a short speech, then everyone went on to bed, the whole school applauding the delegates.

Back in the bathroom, when all the girls had taken off their makeup, let down their hair, on put on their PJ's Lily pulled her beanbag chair next to Danielle's and gave her a quick hug.

"You were so amazing tonight...I really enjoyed your performance." Lily whispered in her ear. Danielle smiled gratefully.

"Thank you...but I think yours was _excruciatingly_ better!" Lily playfully shoved her shoulder.

"_Ah..._ you're just saying that..." the two girls laughed and talked into the night.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, I FINALLY UPDATED!!!! WOOHOO!

Did you all know that I was planning on QUITTING this fic? I was even going to quit FANFICTION! (closes hands over ears blocking out deafening gasps) I know, surprising, but I already know how I'm going to start the next chapter, but not what else I'm going to do, so we'll just have to see from there on, ok?

BARE WITH ME!!!

Danielle

P.S. I've been working on only this chapter for FOUR DAYS!!! It's nine pages long...I think that's the longest any of my chapters have EVER been...oy!


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